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04/22/2003 Archived Entry: "LITTLE BOWS ON MY OAK TREE"

LITTLE BOWS ON MY OAK TREE....for Kristofer Thompson

The limb on my oak tree is getting loaded with little bows. I had to replace several of them after the wind storms that we had. Kris has been gone 16 days already and I've covered each day with a yellow bow. That hardly seems possible. The 4th Infantry Division is in Baghdad...and that's the unit he is in.

Kris called his mother, Cindy McAtee, at 12:15 our time, Monday morning, April 21, from a satelite phone. She reported he sounded great. Evidently, wherever he is, the locals have been serving meals, because he has cereal for breakfast, and each box of cereal has a type of "football card" written in Arabic that advertises the cereal. He said the soldiers get a big "morale booster" if their box of cereal contains a card. He said his mom better start looking for "Choco Balls" cereal here in Ellsworth, because he was going to want a lot of it when he gets home. Ha...I bet.

He also said that for Easter, they ate steak and lobster. He said it wasn't the best he's had, but it wasn't bad. He also claimed to be stinky dirty.

They had gone through a sand storm recently in which he had to use his compass to make sure he was walking in the right direction. He could see no more than 10 feet in front of him. The weather patterns are really odd. He said that during the night, there are light shows of lightning streaking across the sky and during the day, it is very hot but ever so often they will get a few drops of rain seemingly out of nowhere.

He cautioned me not to believe CNN when they indicate the war is almost over. He said there is still fighting going on. He did get to watch CNN Sunday, but knows nothing of recent news (Roy Williams's resignation) He does know about the POW's returning home and that Bush went to Ft. Hood.

He said that when he got to Kuwait, he had 4 letters waiting for him. He said that they will be moving soon, so he probably won't be getting mail again any time soon. He said that tomorrow, they were going to visit some ancient ruins, wherever that might be. Cindy said when she talked with him she almsot had the feeling that he was on some kind of vacation. He said his men were all doing well and had good attitudes. He said it would be a long time before he could call again.

My grandniece also got a call from her boyfriend who is in Baghdad. He was in one of the Presidental Palaces and a newscaster offered his phone for him to call Aimee. They talked about 10 minutes. It was pretty special for each of them.

That's the latest update I have.

Replies: 1 Comment

Wonderful to hear good news from Kris. His comments through you really make the war even more real since I know him. Strange to think that he is actually in Kuwait and a part of the war. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and the many others who are fighting for freedom. Godspeed.

Posted by Deneen Shively @ 04/23/2003 03:45 PM CST