Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Indeed

"Home is the sailor, home from the sea
And the hunter home from the wood."



Sprout is home from Iraq after 15 long and hot months. He arrived just in time to eat the Thanksgiving turkey his wife has debated thawing for several days, not knowing for sure if he would make it in time for Thanksgiving. He made it.

We are giving thanks.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Free Signs for Soldiers



For anybody who has someone deployed, there is a sign company that is giving away 20,000 FREE welcome home signs for soldiers. On their website, you customize your sign (and can even add a picture) and they do the rest. I paid extra to get mine sent quickly and it was here in 3 days. These are high quality vinyl signs. If you have someone deployed or deploying, now would be a good time to get one of these. Hurry up, they are going fast.

You do have to pay for shipping, but it is well worth it. I love this company.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

VICTORY!!!

Sorry this is so late, but it's been one of those days.

The war in Iraq is over. WE WON! And my boy helped. Let the parade begin. We are a nation of good people and we choose our battles wisely and our soldiers are taught to finish the job right.

Now there is yet ANOTHER country that owes the United States a debt of gratitude. Thanks to those mighty warriors that go to battle for us and never complain, there are mothers in Iraq whose children sleep as safely in Iraq as our children sleep in this country.

God Bless the USA.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

A Patriotic Song

The other night, Sgt. York's school had a PTO meeting and all the 3rd grade classes were asked to perform for the parents. They did a patriotic show, which is the first patriotic show I have seen at a public school since...well, since I was in school. Just before the show started, Sgt. York was on stage and caught my eye and pointed to the back of the room. I turned and saw what he was pointing at...the Dad of one of the students, a soldier dressed in his ACU's. I think he is the only soldier for miles around. We are not a military town, but I was glad to see him there. Sgt. York can pick a soldier out of a crowd of thousands. Anyway, Sgt. York is the blond boy in the white shirt on the end of the bleachers closest to the camera. I enjoyed this. I hope you will too.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Missing Mama

If my mother were alive, she would be 73 years old today. God, I miss her. She was always a "fall" person, pointing out the approach of the holidays by the stacks of little plastic bowls of green, red and yellow candied fruits in the grocery store. I still get sentimental when I see those candied fruits. She got absolutely giddy whenever she bought the Thanksgiving turkey and she lived for Christmas. Mama just reveled in the atmosphere of a holiday. She instilled that in all her children and we, in turn, instill it in ours. She was a happy person and she treated everybody fair. I hate that my grandkids never got to meet her. She would get such a kick out of the Little General and Sgt. York and all their antics.

And Mama would be so, so proud of Sprout. She always liked him and his tossled red hair. Heck, when he was ten, she gave him a pony. A LIVE pony! And I will never forget her helping him to learn the poem "When The Frost Is On The Punkin" for a school assignment. She loved that poem and when she died, among her few cherished things was a copy of that poem written in Sprout's boyish handwriting. I will never be as good a grandmother as she was. And she was a better mother than she was a grandmother. I have some huge shoes to fill.




Mama gave birth to 10 children, all but one of us lived to adulthood. We had the usual growing pains that most young folks go through, but over all, we turned out all right. That's not to say that Mama's life was always easy, it wasn't. And things were not always hunky-dory but she made the best of whatever she had. The hardest thing she ever endured was the death of a child, and that one incident put all other problems in her life in their proper prospective. I imagine Sprout's experience in the war will have about the same effect. Huge, hard dealings have a way of doing that. It's tough, but it makes us a better, stronger person in the end.

Falling leaves and chilly mornings will always remind me of Mama and as long as I am able, no matter if there are just 1, or 101 people around my table at Thanksgiving, I will cook a whole turkey, just for the smell. The smell reminds me of Mama. Thanks to her I love this time of year and I will always celebrate the holidays like she did, with all the smells and sounds and sights that make them special. Good mothers teach their children well.

Happy birthday Mama, this one is for you.

When The Frost Is On The Punkin
by James Whitcomb Riley

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here--
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock--
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries--kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below--the clover over-head!--
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin' 's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ...
I don't know how to tell it--but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me--
I'd want to 'commodate 'em--all the whole-indurin' flock--
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

Monday, November 17, 2008

VICTORY IN IRAQ DAY - November 22, 2008



With my son's redeployment fast approaching, I have been afraid of blogging about it for fear of jinxing his homecoming. I have a great fear of breaching some OPSEC (operational security) rule that I don't know about and unintentionally causing some harm to come to any of our dear soldiers. I am almost certain that I probably am not privy to any information that might be used by our enemies to hurt our warriors, but I don't know that for sure. As a lowly "soldier mom", I just don't know what is safe and what is not. So, until my young-un's boots are safe on American soil, I will remain fairly silent, for safety's sake.

Having said that, I have found something that I CAN blog about. A blogger named Zombie is spear-heading a drive to pronounce "Victory in Iraq" day on November 22, 2008. He's doing this because, well frankly, no one else will. He explains it all on his website. Basically, since the media do not want President Bush to appear to have a success under his wings, they will not promote Victory in Iraq Day...heck, they won't even admit that the war is won. And the new administration certainly won't admit victory, since Obama has already stated that the surge was a failure. Hmmm? Mighty funny-looking failure to me. My son is part of that surge and it seems to me that the US mission has basically switched from a mission of defense to a peace-keeping mission. Coincidental that it occurred while MY son was there? I think not.

Anyway, this coming Saturday, November 22, 2008, please join in a virtual ticker-tape parade for our soldiers by having a "VI Day" post on your blog. Be sure to link to Zombie's web page so that he can add you to his list of participants. It's up to us, the American public who KNOW that this war is won to honor the people who did it so well. Start cutting and pasting the virtual confetti and grab up the cyber serpentine. There's going to be one hellacious parade this weekend. Yee Haw!!!