I went looking for a friend who would have sat in the living room in 1968, telling stories to a young military wife about the war in Vietnam.

I wanted that friend to tell those stories again, in voices like ghosts running through the love letters from Vietnam that her husband sent home almost five decades ago.

Voices like ghosts, because after he came home, the soldier’s voice was silenced in a shotgun blast.

Until his son brought his words back to life.

I found that friend. She’s almost fifty years old, too. And she’s almost ready to tell stories of service and sacrifice, love and redemption, and the power of forgiveness.

You’ll hear from her at the For The Sender show later this month.