Well said. I know from experience about the pain of items that belonged to someone I lost, though years ago now. When my mom died and we were going through her things 10 years ago, we came across things that belonged to my baby brother, buried before his 19th birthday during the heighth of the Vietnam mess. We decided that we would give his things to someone who could use them. By that time, we were on emotional overload and decided that none of our children would know anything about him and we could not re-visit that pain again. It was time to let go and rely on our memories of the "good" times.
We never know why the quilt was not with the recipient. Hopefully, the soldier is well on road to recovery and this is a painful reminder that he or she chose to leave behind. All we can do is give our gift with our love and appreciation for their hard work and sacrifice. We can't let one incident of "unknowns" dampen our spirits or or resolve to remember as many soldiers as possible. Sadly, there are still way too many soldiers who will not have that special quilt waiting for them when they return. We can't quit now and we can't get discouraged.
I have preached enough. Going to bed...I know, it is time to get up, but couldn't sleep.
God Bless