A few months ago, my elderly dog Butter passed away. I was over here in Kosovo, and couldn’t be there for him. But I asked my wife to clip some of his fur and send it to me; I got it in a ziploc bag a few weeks later, after he’d passed.

I have never been so happy to see dog hair in my life. To think I usually try to brush this stuff off my clothes! I still have the ziploc bag and will probably keep it until I’m making my own way to the ol’ Rainbow Bridge myself.

It is so strange how little, ordinary things can connect you to home when you’re far away. A few civilian t-shirts from events you participated in, a favorite book or some photographs. Not just images saved on a phone –those are good, too, and I have a lot of them– but sometimes just a regular old printed photograph you can hold in your hand or pin up on a locker door.

When someone you love is away from you for a long time, there’s usually no need to overthink a gift in the mail. Simple things can be a mental lifeline, reminding a person that they are still a part of life back home even if they are currently being missed.

Like getting a ziploc bag full of dog hair.