”Good morning Slim.”

”Good morning mommy.” Tasha was sitting on the rocking swing chair her mother sat down next to her.

”You all right,” Janet says looking into her daughters eyes.

”Yeah, I’m all right.” Tasha grabs her mother’s hand and holds it. They remain quiet with nothing but the sounds of the morning around them and the sun coming up after another 20 minutes Tasha stands to her feet.

”I guess I better go now and get ready.”

She excuses herself and goes back upstairs to her room. Alice is still sleeping so she sits in the chair in the corner for a minute still pre-occupied with her thoughts watching her sleep. As she’s preparing for what she’ll say her thoughts are intermingled with how much she loves Alice as she watches her she dozed off. When she awoke it was 7am she takes a shower and gets ready. Around 7:30, Alice awakens to find Tasha putting on her uniform. Tasha takes great care in putting on each article of clothing and she looks beautiful in it. A striking woman already all the more lovely in her military dress suit and hat. Tasha is fully dressed and ready to go downstairs when Alice emerges from the shower she can’t help but in awe of her.

“You’re so beautiful.” Alice wanted to go somewhere else with it just from the pure sight of her in uniform but she quickly contained herself as she knew this wasn’t moment for that.

The church was packed with people friends, relatives from both sides of the family, and people who served with and for Major Williams. When it was Tasha’s time to speak she was nervous wanting to cry yet understanding the mission at hand. She took the podium looking around then quietly composed herself with just a quick, ”Lord help” in what looked like a pause and then began to speak.

Tasha started by reading from the obituary she touched on her father leaving home at 17 lying about his age to join the service. How he met and married her mother, her birth, and Chris then she touched on his military life. She talked of how difficult it was at times to move around and having to make new friends. But she talked of how her dad remedied that by always emphasizing the importance of family, how it was him, her mother and Chris, always there for each other and how it would always be that way. She talked of her father’s love for the three of them and how at times it was a little wacky but somehow, he got across the fact that he loved his ”girls” (Janet included in this definition) very much. She mentioned the times she and he only shared and how they got her interested in the service even though he wanted her to go to college. She was proud, she said, that she was able to do both.