Celebration and Sorrow

Today brings us a day of celebration and sadness, and I have to give it to you straight, with little rambling [well, I'll try].

Today is Trinnie's 32nd birthday!

Cupcakes by Dots Treats!

Happy birthday to the best friend a girl could ever ask for!  She is truly a blessing in my life, and I am so fortunate to finally live near her and get to spend as much time with her possible!  She is a rock in my life, and has always supported me 100%.  Love, love, love her!

When I was buzzing my Twitter feed earlier, I noticed updates from official Navy outlets that my brother's ship (the Enterprise) has suffered another loss.  A second sailor has been found dead aboard the ship.  There is no information yet, nor has there been an official DOD release.  My heart goes out to my brother and his fellow sailors aboard that ship - this has been a rough deployment, with the change in leadership prior to leaving and the losses they've suffered.

DH also informed me this morning that he had read on Facebook that a soldier he served with back at Bragg, SPC Paul Atim, had died.  We didn't know the circumstances, but I put in a call to a friend (and former FRG leader), who did some research as well.  Six or so hours later, the DOD release finally verified the news floating around the internet.  We saddened by the loss of this soldier, whom DH remembers as "a good kid, a good soldier [with a] great sense of humor [who] always made people laugh in the shittiest situations."  Our thoughts are with Atim's son, family, friends, and fellow soldiers.