May you rest in peace

This morning started off like a regular morning. After taking Reese to the groomer, I made a quick stop at my mom's house to get my camera. We drove up to Richmond yesterday to meet my brother for lunch. He doesn't live there...he was just there for the day on business. I wound up leaving my camera in my mom's car, so I needed to get it. Anyway...I took a picture of Colby and Marisa with Brian yesterday, along with some silly pictures of Marisa holding the GIANT cucumbers and squash that came out of Brian's garden. Those were going to be my blog pictures for today...

At 11:00, Marisa had an appointment at her school to be evaluated for kindergarten. As soon as we turned in to the parking lot, there was a sea of police motorcycles. I immediately knew they were lining up for the funeral of Michael Phillips, a Virginia Beach police detective who was recently killed in the line of duty. Because I had just come from my mom's house, I tore out my camera and took a few pictures. There wasn't much time though, because I had to get Marisa to her testing. Plus, I didn't want them to think I was some strange papparazzi...

Fortunately, when we left the school, the motors were still there. I parked the car and took the opportunity to talk to the kids about the police family (units from all over the state were in attendance), the danger of drugs, good guys, bad guys and everything in between. We eventually got out of the car, sat on the sidewalk and just watched and listened. The man in charge was instructing the policemen on how to stop their bikes and dismount. It was a series of several actions, all which were done in perfect unison. They practiced and then eventually left, two by two.

It was all very touching, very meaningful. Especially since my brother is one of them. God bless the family and friends of Det. Phillips and all the other men and women who are out there protecting us.