10/21/2026
If there is a Veteran in your life who goes quiet the same week every year, there is often a reason, and it usually is not you.
Anniversary reactions are real. The body tracks the date of a loss or a trauma even when the person has stopped marking it consciously. Sleep gets worse first. Then patience. Then distance. Some of them know exactly what the date is. Some have not connected it and will not until it has passed.
Here is the part that matters.
Withdrawal is not a signal to back off. It is usually the moment to say something.
Say something small. Stay close.
