L E T T E R S || For the soldiers serving overseas during WW2, letters were the only way of keeping in touch with family and loved ones at home. These letters brought hope and warmth to our boys fighting over there.

We try to keep this spirit alive with our own letter writing program at Operation Meatball... Over the years it has been a wonderful way of staying in contact with the veterans, and some of the most precious friendships have been formed with the back and forth of these letters.

The other day we received a very thoughtful gift to encourage us along in our letter writing: a book of Purple Heart stamps. This gift meant so much to us. It means 20 letters will be going out to 20 veterans in the next couple of days! Few things make me more excited.

Thank you Saunders Family for your creativity and practical generosity!!

Last week the girls and I were up in Toccoa, Georgia, for Currahee Military Weekend.

In my experience, Toccoa is one of America's most delightful hidden gems. It's one of the only places I can think of in our country where you can literally walk in the footsteps of the WWII Paratroopers and (for a brief time), re-live how it was during the war.

Local veteran, Dewitt Loudermilk holding a newspaper clipping about his service as an Engineer in WWII.

If you are up for it, you can run the mountain where our boys trained; visit the original barracks (currently being rebuilt), the depot where the fresh young men arrived, the museum with remarkable and historical artifacts; and talk to the wonderful folks who were kids at the time and grew up watching the paratroopers make their arrival, train, and depart for overseas... for some of them, never to return.

The hospitality and genuineness of the people and the wonderful celebration they host each year remembering the paratroopers who trained at Camp Toccoa comes together to make it one of the happiest weekends of the year for me.