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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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DM: Trying 2009 Ending Sweetly

Regular readers of this blog may be aware that this year brought pain with it to my family - deep pain. Today, however, a great measure of joy was delivered to our mailbox, postmarked December 11th, 2009. My son, Colin, is a Senior in High School and long ago set his sights on attending the United States Military Academy at West Point - I think he began his planning when he was 7 years old. He attended my 20th class reunion with me, visited the Academy on a few family vacations and - on his own - spent a week at West Point last Summer - with the Student Leadership Seminar program. Well, today he received a letter from U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, nominating him to West Point/Dennis Mansfield. More here.

Question: As many of you know, Dennis lost a son earlier this year. The news he and the rest of the family received today is a nice ending to a bittersweet year. How has your year gone? Sweet? Sour? Bittersweet?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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