Kareem Khan

I'm so glad I lasted less than a week of daily updating...but I think I still will make my goal of 5 per week...no one said it had to be on a M-F basis!

This week has been a crazy in terms of news. First we had a guy who apparently killed his wife with a nail gun before turning it on himself. I only did the first story (in a team effort with my amazing co-workers) because I had to concentrate on this big series that I am doing next week.

And then we heard news that an Iraq soldier from our area, Kareem Khan, died. That was a really hard story to do, first of all because I realized he was my brother's age and year in school. I can't imagine. Secondly, the family was amazing. They provided me with so many details, that I couldn't fit them all in. Like the fact that Khan had a little Iraqi boy who used to follow him around and had a really cute picture with him. And I didn't write that his father said he always 100% supported his son's decision to enroll in the Army.
And the slot machine in the living room that his parents bought for Khan, that Khan kept filled with his own quarters until he could turn 21 and go to Atlantic City. And the fact that his stepmother had already bought an PS3 and a Wii for when Khan came home, because he was such a fan of video games.

I also didn't write how deeply touched I was by this family and how their relatives came up from Trinidad immediately to be with the family and how much that it obviously meant to Khan's father and stepmother.


The thing I definitely couldn't write was how sad I was reporting this. I actually shed a few tears in my car outside. The line about a father should never bury his child really hit me the hardest.