Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can. (Danny Kaye)

Today's art project: cards for my son. PJ's still feeling very homesick, according to the last letter I got from him. He really likes getting letters. As he put it, it makes him feel loved to hear his name for mail call. So I'm trying to send him letters as often as I can.

It's not easy, coming up with amusing stories on a regular basis. I have thought of inventing things; after all, how would he know if I was telling the truth or not. But somehow, that doesn't really seem fair. I've tried telling jokes, but I don't write jokes any better than I tell them. (How important is a punch line, anyway?)

Luckily, he's so glad to get mail that the content doesn't really matter. It's the act of writing, rather than what's written, that shows the love.

He may change his mind about this, though, after he gets the food card we made. (The guys at boot camp are obsessed with the burgers, fries, ice cream, and other foods from "real" life that they miss.)