I am so proud of….

On Wednesday my husband David went to the promotion board. He is an active duty soldier in the US Army. I stayed home and fretted would he make it. I knew in my heart he was well prepared by his squad leader, but at the board anything can happen. He came home with a smile, gave me a big hug and said, yes I made it. So now it’s a waiting game for promotion points.

I have also been nominated for some kind of volunteer award. For those of you who do not regularly follow my blog, I am a busy volunteer, at ASOM, Soldiers Angels, and of course my FRG (Family Readiness Group). I am proud that my work has been noticed, not that recognition is why I do what I do. In fact the opposite is true. I don’t like being the center of attention and just the thought of attending some volunteer recognition lunch… Well let’s just say not my thing. If you want to read about some of my volunteer adventures just browse my other blog posts.

Now I just have to get a few surprises in store for hubby & his upcoming promotion.

Well if I want any chance at reaching my goal of bombarding Dad with 100 pages to edit upon his return from France I’d better get back to pounding keys.

Memorial Day (Late) – Why me?

A friend asked me to write this post. For a week, I have struggled with logging in and writing. It came to be just a simple problem, I had the wrong password. After all was said and done, I am late with this posting that was really meant for Memorial Day. “Drop and do some flutter kicks!” is what I can hear in my head.

Memorial Day is a day that Americans remember the accomplishments of the Armed Forces and celebrate the soldiers of today. I always do something on Memorial Day that differs from the majority of the population. Grabbing my set of Dog-Tags, I go for a run, usually four miles, because this reminds me of my Active Duty days. After my run, I take a shower and head out for some food, or chow, and try to eat with my friends. In the Army, I always ate with my friends. After getting some food, I spend my time with the closer parts of my life, my family. I watch my war movies that I have collected over the years and even some home made videos. I usually have to explain some of the odd behavior that would occur on the home made videos to my family. The rest of the day is filled with eating and maybe even getting on Skype to talk with a buddy of mine that is deployed to the nether regions of the world.

You see Memorial Day to me is so much more personal than the whole picture of all of the Armed Forces. I am reminded of my brothers in arms that were closest to me with these motions. The ones who picked me up, sometimes literally, when I didn’t think I could get up. This is my “Memorial” to them. If you have a certain tradition for your Memorial Day, I encourage you to express it and never think it is stupid. Believe it or not, people think it is ridiculous to go running to remember your brothers. I say “Hooah” and keep going.

Flash Fiction: The Bag

This came to me when my husband and I were talking about his basic training days. I have also had several conversations with other active duty soldiers.

The Bag

The bag was filled with many things.

There was even room for a few hopes and dreams.

The top of the class was the goal.

Continue reading→

When a picture is all you have left

If you follow my blog, you know I started a Facebook page to help reunite with their lost photos and mementos that were scattered when the tornadoes hit. Okay I was once again asked to explain why I took my time and energy to do this. 

What if you woke up and found everything was gone, your house no longer existed, your whole world had been torn apart; what could you cling to?

Memories of course. What is a better memory than that special trinket or photo. It may look like nothing to others, but always makes you smile. Yes that’s it over there on the shelf.

I was watching a live feed from a local TV station online, and watched as a reporter held up photos that had been handed to her, by a first responder. That made me think of the fate of hundreds maybe thousands of items tossed about.

Something had to be done. After a brief internet search I decided to start a simple Facebook page. Once I started it I recruited longtime Okie friend Robert Routt, to lend a hand. He already handles a few pages, and I don’t always get as much time online as I’d like. so with that Mementos From Moore was born.

Put yourself in the shoes of the victims, nothing is normal you just want that one thing to be found.