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IzzyB
July 5, 2009

221 Days of Vigil

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The Fourth of July weekend put me in a patriotic mood and I decided to scrap this story of the yellow ribbon during my baby brother's deployment to Iraq on a reconnaissance mission with the Marines. The pic is of him and me on the day that he left for his 7-month deployment. It was so hard to say goodbye to him. The first thing I did after he left was go to the craft store, buy a big roll of yellow ribbon, make a bow, and tie it to the oak tree in our front yard. I put a sign underneath the ribbon with his picture and a message that said , "Pray for Michael, deployed to Iraq."

That ribbon was a magnet for notes from well-wishers. I was astonished at how many times we came home to find little notes scribbled to my brother and tucked into the ribbon. Often they were from fellow soldiers. One note said simply, Semper Fi," the Marine Corps motto, always faithful. I sent all these notes to my brother and wrote him stories of strangers ringing our doorbell or stopping us in the driveway to ask about him.

Near the end of his deployment, a news crew stopped by and asked me the story of the yellow ribbon. I recounted it to them. The story and a photo of the weathered ribbon on our tree were published as the featured "Back Page" story of the magazine. I scanned in photos of the magazine cover and article here and tucked them into the photo pocket on the layout.

When my brother came home, one of the first things he did was to cut down the tattered old yellow ribbon. What a great day that was - 221 days later.

I hand-drew and cut the tree trunk and branches, then added circles and buttons. Tieing the yellow ribbon on here really took me back to that day.


layouts scrapbooking yellow ribbon oak tree Iraq Cosmo Cricket Orange Purple Red Yellow 12 x 12 Masculine Naturalist Playful Challenges Borders Die Cuts Embellishments Inking Journaling Matting Punches Ribbon & Fiber Stitching Titles Family Love Military
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