The Medeiros Family -- an average American family copes with war

By Reilly Capps
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2003; Page C01


WESTMINSTER, Md. -- In the kitchen, a hurricane made up of three kids and a dog swirls around her: Emily paws through the freezer; Alex fiddles with his yogurt lid; Rita makes a bagel at the sink, and Blue wants a bite of it. Tamara Medeiros, mother of 8-year-old triplets, stands in the eye of the hurricane with a newspaper, trying to read about death in Iraq.

Yesterday was another bad day in Baghdad.

The newspaper means more to Tamara now that her husband's fate is tied up in the headlines. Staff Sgt. Jack Medeiros, her husband of 17 years, was a "weekend warrior" in the Army Reserves but is now stationed at Baghdad Airport guarding enemy prisoners. The newspaper calls the airport road a "deadly shooting gallery for attackers trying to kill U.S. soldiers." There have been "dozens of shootings, bombings and land-mine explosions in recent weeks."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54274-2003Jul27.html