Paul Heads Back to Iraq

I got an email from Paul's wife letting me know he definitely ships out on Friday. He will be stationed in Iraq for an entire year. For those of you going, "Who is Paul?" He's the youngest of my brothers. He turned 30 this year and is married with a baby girl who is not even 1. He also has two sons from a previous marriage; there somewhere between 10-15. I'm not really good with specifics.

Anyway, she sent this awesome list of things to send Paul over the next year. Paul was stationed overseas for a long time (5 years or more?) a while back and I'm not sure I ever sent him a package. I'm pretty sure I only wrote him once or twice.

Paul is 12 years younger than me and I left home right before my 16th birthday; so we don't exactly have a lot of combined history to build on. I guess it would be safe to say we really hardly know each other. While in Brady for Becky's funeral Paul made the comment that while he loved her, he didn't really know Becky. I'm afraid that the same thing could probably be said of Paul and I.

And I can't stand the thought of attending his funeral, or his attending mine, with those same words floating between us. (Or around the dead one . . . whatever, you get the point.)

So I sent him an email last week forewarning him that I was going to force myself down his throat via email the entire year he's in Iraq. I'm going to tell him about my past, present, hopes for the future, disappointments, business, writing, family. I told him by the time I was through he'd be pucking Misty.

Of coarse, I did tell him that if his time was limited on the Internet he could skip my emails and save them for later and he was under no obligation to respond. I just don't know how else to go about building a relationship with him. The more you know about a person, the more you know the person . . . right?

Anyway, I learned a lot about Paul from the list his wife sent:

Chips ahoy cookies -- boy at heart
Cheese its -- doesn't mind crackers in bed (probably more than I wanted to know)
Sunflower seeds -- doesn't like to sit inactively; needs something to do at all times
Slim Jims -- likes to pick up the tempo -- Snap into a SlimJim!
Tortillas -- thinks of his family and childhood while overseas
Choc. Chip Granola Bars -- feels the need to have healthy snack on hand, but not serious about it
Pop Corn Kernels -- give him a feeling of "American" and going to the movies when he's not working
Powdered Kool-aid --that boy at heart thing
Powdered Gatorade -- thinking like a soldier; need electrolytes to counter the loss of fluids sweating

I really posted this list so when I lost it -- and I will -- I would have a place to look it up. I have no real hope that I'll get many package off to him. But I'm going to aim for 3 during the year he's over there. I know, I suck.

If you want to send a soldier a package, here is his address:

SGR Estrada, Paul
268th NSC, 504th BFSB
APO AE-09351

And here some great pointers on sending packages to Iraq:
http://www.bootsonground.com/shipping-packages-overseas.htm

Love ya Bro that I don't know!