phonecall

My sister went to the Naval Academy...
I went to art school.


My sister called me on the phone and told me this story.  Our experiences are so different and our understanding of these events were so unequal that I felt I was not able to give her the comfort that she needed.

I have not shared the level of personal loss that my sister has faced in recent years.  Still, my relationship with her has me exposed to this pain and loss.  What I know of war is from what I see in a news report.

When I see men and women in uniform I am reminded of a time when I watched my sister and her friends attending ceremonies, deployments, and home-comings.  I did not know them as my own friends, but I knew them through my sister. 

This is a portrait of our different experience of war and its aftermath.