Christmas Poem with a Twist

I should be getting ready for work right now, but instead I opened my email and when I read the following poem I knew I HAD to add it to my website. I'm not sure if the address at the bottom is the author, but I didn't feel right erasing it. You will need a tissue (unless you have no heart)! My only wish is that every American could read this poem.

A different kind of Christmas poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
'What are you doing?' I asked without fear,
'Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!'

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said 'Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.'
'It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,'
Then he sighed, 'That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.'
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',And now it is my turn and
so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I c an sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.'

'So go back inside,' he said, 'harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right.'
'But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
'Give you money,' I asked, 'or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son.'
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

'Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.'

PLEASE , Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's remember what we owe. Make people stop and think of
our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.


LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Praising Children

I hadn't thought much about what I said around others until I had kids. When my daughter started saying "shit" at the babysitters house, my husband told me it was time I cleaned up my act. Can I help it that while growing up in my house "shit" wasn't a swear word it was just an exclamation? I guess that explanation didn't fly for my husband.

This doesn't just hold true for bad words but for good also. When Nicole was two years old, Scott was out of a job and so he was home with Nicole. Because he was home he got assigned the wonderful task of toilet training. Though Scott had done numerous things in his life, this was a new one for him. Part of toilet training is a lot of discipline and praise, so whenever Nicole would go potty we would praise her and tell her what a good job she did. It became evident that the praise was sinking in when one day I was in going to the bathroom and Nicole came in and said, "You going potty mommy?", when I said "yes" she said "Good job mommy, good job!" Mission Accomplished!

Do it yourself projects?

It's hard to believe that it has been over a month since my last blog. Since it is summer things have been just a bit hectic. It seems as if I have more projects on my plate than my plate can hold. I feel like Michelle Pfieffer in the movie "One Fine Day" when she is talking about all the balls that she has up in the air.

We decided to put an inground pool in ourselves. We started it last Tuesday when the guys came and dug the hole, which took two days. We placed the sidewalls and formed the bottom of the pool on Thursday and Friday then placed the stairs on Saturday. Now we are just waiting to get the cement poured around the outside to set the braces.

Would you like a straw with that?

There are some people who are addicted to coffee. Some who are addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.. Me, I must admit that I'm a hot chocolate addict!! It doesn't matter the temperature outside, if I'm craving hot chocolate....I have to HAVE my hot chocolate.

I also must admit at the same time that I am a creature of habit. You name the restaurant and my husband knows what I'll order from there. Pei Wei? Chicken Lo Mein. Taco Time? Soft floured taco with sour cream. Paradise Cafe? Chicken Walnut sandwich. So when I go to the coffee hut that I have gone to at least once a week for the past three years they know that I always get a large peppermint hot chocolate no straw and an ausiago bagel. So after all that time you would think that they would stop asking me if I would like a straw in my hot chocolate.....NO! the answer is ALWAYS NO! But again today I stop and get hot chocolate and what does the cute little blonde girl ask...."would you like a straw in your hot chocolate?" Politely I said, "no thank you". And she politely hands me my hot chocolate with a straw in it! Aarrgghh...did she not listen to a thing I said or is she just paid to stand there and look cute. I'm not saying that every cute girl is stupid, because I have known my fair share of very smart cute girls....this just wasn't one of them. I was very proud of myself that I didn't take the straw out of the hot chocolate and throw it at her....I'm sure my mom is very proud of me!

I guess the moral of the story is if you get a straw just smile and say thank you then take it out and save it in the car door for the next time the kids need a straw for their drink!

Trust

I don't think I have thought about the word trust much before until my fifteen year old son, Braedon, threw it in my face on Sunday.

My husband sold his ATV to my older son and so we bought a new go-cart so he can have a toy to play with. We had all taken a turn riding it through the cul-de-sac to make sure there weren't any kinks before we take it up to the cabin. Braedon even had his share of turns. But Sunday when I was taking Scott to the airport Braedon called and asked if he could take the go-cart over to the school and ride it. I told him that the go-cart isn't street legal and that he couldn't. That's when he says, "It's because you don't trust me!" I told him that wasn't the case but he just kept throwing the trust word in my face. When he finally said he wouldn't ride it, I said, "And I trust that you won't".

For some reason it has really bothered me that he would even say that I don't trust him. Unfortunately I have trusted him and maybe too much at times. I was raised this same way. My parents always said when we were growing up that they gave us enough leash to hang ourselves and sometimes we nearly did. I have almost always let the kids do whatever they wanted; they know what our standards are and I expect them to uphold them. My main criteria is that I know where they are, who they are with and when they will be home. I have trusted him when he has told me something that is what he has meant, and last week he let me down. Since he broke that trust I've told him that he will have to earn it back.

I hope this will be something he more fully understands when he is grown with a family of his own.....just as I hope all my children will know.

Sisters

Kim & Kaye Christmas 1969

I love my sis! She has always been everything that I'm not. During the 70's she was the one who had to have big loud flowers on everything while I stayed with the calico prints. She never seemed afraid to step out there and be herself whereas I felt like I just followed the flow.

She is the one who introduced me to the world of blogging. Whenever I need some humor in my life I know that I can always go to her blog http://digiziners.blogspot.com/ and get a good laugh. She sees the world through my dad's eyes (my dad is also someone who doesn't take the world too seriously). I've decided that God must have a sense of humor, or at least this is my hope. Who else can laugh off all of the bad haircuts and color jobs that she has had, and then humorously write about them. However, her blog "Hair Whore" always gets me kicked off of the internet at work (you'd think I'd learn to stay away from that one!).

Growing up we had our own language. Slobobovitch - someone who looks like a slob; aka the one whose half of the room was the messiest. Ramona - a name used for each other when the other one did something unheard of. Tard - a term used for someone who did something stupid.

Here's to sisters everywhere! Oh the things we shared! Here's to you Kim!

Corporate America

I'm not sure if there is a law against posting more than one blog in a single day, but if there is please don't send the blog police here!

I'm here at work and bored to pieces. We are having a real slow day and I have to get in my 8 3/4 hours so that I don't lose benefits. Who thought of this? They get mad if you get over time but they don't mind if you sit around twiddling your thumbs trying to get in your hours.

Seems I could be doing alot more useful things such as laundry, floors, dishes, etc..