I am In Love...

With my new camera. I have been waiting so patiently for my Cannon Xsi EOS and I finally got IT!! I have been reading up on it and trying to figure out all the cool new things I can do..I can't wait to share with you all some of the pics I take with it. I am mostly looking forward to our cross country trip where I will be able to really get tons of great shots. But for now, let me share with you my very first pic..its not the greatest but I think I did ok for a complete novice.

A.A. Milne Quotable Quotes

When I was a little girl one of my first and favorite books was titled, "When We Were Very Young" I remember sitting and reading it over and over again. I don't think at the time I knew it was the same author that wrote Winnie-The-Pooh. I started reading before I started school, I guess I was a whiz kid at reading. Last night I was looking through some A.A. Milne quotes because I love quotes...lol.
So I stumbled across this one and as my sons graduation approaches and I am looking for the right thing to have inscribed for him I found this:

Promise me you'll always remember.
Your braver than you believe,
and stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think.

Now I remember why I loved Milne so much.

Freedom Friday HOMECOMINGS

I am going to talk about something that has been on my mind a lot lately. Something I have only experienced as an "outsider", a "friend", a "Marine Family Member" and that is losing your spouse while deployed. My husband has many deployments under his belt and probably one or two still left in our near future. As spouses when we send our husbands (I will refer to husbands since that is my frame of reference) we do so with the wonderful anticipation of the "homecoming". We think about it from the moment our eyes can no longer see one another as they leave on the plane, bus, car or however that moment comes. It is as much a part of us as breathing those months/year waiting for them to come home. It is such an emotional time that unless you have experienced it you could never really understand how many layers of emotions are involved. During the deployments when your husbands Battalion takes casulties you feel like a member of your family has died and you worry, you worry everyday and you think of the homecoming because it gets you through every memorial service you attend while they are gone. When you sit there in your chair crying hysterically for the lose of one of your own, but not really "your" own, you mind tells you how easily it could have been your husband, how the pain you feel is deep but can't touch how it must really feel. Everytime the news reports a death of a Marine/Soldier you stop in your tracks to hear the "who,what when and where" because we all know the media finds out before we do. And again, we start thinking about the homecoming.
Here is what I dwell on when my husband is deployed. I try not to go to this place often because it is dark and scary but inevitable. "If I lost him while he was over there, would I continue to wait for the homecoming?" Would it be a perpetual feeling of waiting? I have heard other spouses explain it like that, and to me that is the worse kind of way to have to grieve. I know our lives are so unigue and we deal with things most never do. But still we wait...and still we hope, that we all get our "Happy Homecoming"
Special thanks to Nadine for posting a great video today on her blog about homecomings to remind me of how lucky I have been to always have a happy ending.

JUST A QUICK ONE

Well today we closed on our house, its official...our big beautiful house is now someone elses to love like we did. I know a bit of the history of the young woman who bought our house, and I don't want to put her business on my blog but I will tell you that she needs a break, and I hope all our love and all our good memories somehow rub off on her and her little girl as they lay their heads down in the house that was our home.
Ok so now that door has closed I can see all the new ones opening in the future..and I am excited!
Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and good wishes and vibes you sent our way.

See Ya Later Friend

Well this has been a nice weekend, an emotional weekend. This weekend we had a memorial service for a very dear friend that we lost in Sept 09 while the hubs was in Afghanistan. Some of you that follow me on twitter will remember. It was tough and extremely difficult when our friend, who we consider a member of our family passed this last year. I will give you a little background information on Jim Hummel and his family. About 13 years ago I went in search of any men that served with my dad who was KIA in Vietnam when I was an infant. I wanted the truth about my dad, the good the bad and the ugly. I figured the best way to do this would be to find the men who served with him in the Marine Corps. I posted a little note on the "Virtual Wall" and was contacted by Jim Hummel shortly thereafter. And to make a long story short we became close, he shared photos he had of my dad, and memories and in a short period of time it was like we were family. His wife Maggie, and his sons were as well. We shared more emails than I can count and we shared important events. His family sent so many care packages to Greg and his Marines every time Greg deployed, and Gregs hardships became their own. They came to my husbands graduation from Det Commanders Course in D.C., We traveled to their home in Pa. And met several times over the years, and a lot of those times Jim was not in good health and still he came. Michael considered Jim a grandfather, he loved him as much as my dad, and would talk to him on the phone for hours. Maggie his wife is more special to us than I can express in writing and his sons, well we love them too. Jim's first love of course was his family, second, the Marine Corps. He was a decorated Combat Veteran and a disabled veteran. He passed this last year, I wasn't prepared, even though he was ill, I guess I just didn't want to believe he would ever leave us. It was a hard week when he passed for the hubs, he has lost some Marines from his Battalion and his best friend another Marine has also lost his life and now I had to tell him Jim had passed away, I just didn't know how to do it. Jim was truly our family, our chosen family member, we loved him. Greg took the news pretty hard. Mostly he wanted to be here for his wife Maggie, to make sure she was ok. To do what Marines do, to look after his own. He felt like he owed Jim that much, to comfort his wife and kids when they need him. He couldn't be there, I tried to tell him that of all people Jim would understand. He knew that the mission was first. But Greg wanted to look after his family like Jim looked after his buddies daughter (me) after all those years. But Maggie as special as she was let Greg know that she was ok, that she was going to wait until Greg got home to make sure he would be included in saying our final farewells to Jim, I think she knew how important that was to both of them. So she waited and this weekend we finally were able to give Jim his send off, our "see you later". Marines truly take care of one another, the young, the old, The Marine. On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, the Marines of 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion (Jims old unit), took thier brother out to Courthouse Bay with his sons and Greg and Michael and an old Amtrac buddy long retired and paid a final honor to Jim. His ashes were spread in this place that Jim loved as his beautiful and dedicated wife Maggie watched from the shore along with other Marines that had come down to watch. And as the chaplain read a poem that another Veteran that had served with Jim wrote:







It was hard for me to read that poem when Maggie showed it to me, but it is beautiful and it is true, my son said when the chaplain read it the Sgt on the track had a tear rolling down his cheek. And when the ashes were finally let go, I knew that this was a place of peace for Jim and his family, that somehow Jim was looking down on it all and finally he was home. Jim will always be with us, in Maggie and Jeremy and Jesse..and now with his Marine Corps. We feel him all around us.
I would like to share some photos of Jim when he was a young Marine..no different than that face we see today...our brave young Marines (and soldiers) we owe so much too..
Rest in Peace Jim. We got your back. We love you Maggie, Jeremy and Jesse..feel the arms of your military family wrap around you. We will always be here for you.

Blog Award

Ok, well here it is, I am posting my first blog award. I have received a couple others and I didn't put them on my blog mostly because I was a novice blogger and wasn't quite sure how to do it. I received this award from Queen Of My Castle and thought maybe I should start posting them in the spirit they are given and she is a sweetheart so I decided to accept the award in that spirit. I have a few more I was given and will post them as soon as I can figure it all out. Again, thank you so much to Queen Of My Castle

Here are the Rules:
1. Thank the person you received the award from. (check)
2. Name 10 things that make you happy.
3. Pass it on and contact the lucky winners!

Here are the 10 things that make me happy.
1. My husband. He is the only one in the world that really gets me.
2. My son. I have bored you all with endless post about what a terrific kid he is.
3. Time between deployments, it is the most precious time ever.
4. My fur babies, I love them both, cat and dog..
5. Exercise. I know..maybe I don't LOVE it but the results make me happy.
6. Road trips.
7. Watching my son at JROTC, I will miss it when he graduates.
8. Friends.
10.All the Marines and troops that put themselves on the line everyday.


Now for the passing it along part.

Here are the folks that keep me sane everyday...


Nadine at The Albrecht Squad she totally gets the whole Army wife thing. She is also a former Soldier as well so she has a unique perspective of Army Life. I come from a Marine background so she is also a great "Army" translator for me.

Hellcat Betty Hellcat Betty Last year when a bunch of our husbands were deploying we all came together to keep one another from getting to far down the pity pottie slope. Many a night spent "twammered" and "chatting" and she is also one of the girls that inspired me to start my own blog.

There is 2 right off the bat, I could give out plently more but since I am on my way out the door right now I will have to re-visit this at a later date. I think all the blogs I read deserve an award..all great stories about great people going about this life..have a great day everyone.

WORDLESS WENDESDAY

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