Kerri: Not Standoffish But Respectful

I was there this morning in a dual capacity, as a Post Falls City Councilor and as the aunt of a deploying soldier. … It was not standoffishness or elitism that was in play but a respect for the very personal time the soldiers were spending with their families. As I shook the hand and had a personal exchange with each one of the soliders I was representing the people in our community who were not there to thank the soldiers who were deploying. And I could feel the emotion of each of those soldier’s family members, my sister among them. My heart broke a hundred times for the young boy about 6 or 7 who called out “goodbye daddy” through his sobs as his father boarded the bus/Kerri Thoreson. (Full comment below)

To Dave and the wife who wrote to you … I was there this morning in a dual capacity, as a Post Falls City Councilor and as the aunt of a deploying soldier. It was an incredibly emotional and moving experience on all fronts. I was in the greeting line with Post Falls Mayor Larkin, Rathdrum Mayor Vic Holmes, PFPD Police Captain Pat Knight and Sid Smith and Karen Roetter, representing US Senators Risch and Crapo. If I might offer a different perspective, it was not standoffishness or elitism that was in play but a respect for the very personal time the soldiers were spending with their families. As I shook the hand and had a personal exchange with each one of the soliders I was representing the people in our community who were not there to thank the soldiers who were deploying. And I could feel the emotion of each of those soldier’s family members, my sister among them. My heart broke a hundred times for the young boy about 6 or 7 who called out “goodbye daddy” through his sobs as his father boarded the bus.
I’m equally heartbroken that this wife had such a different view of our motivation to be there.