A Real Story from an American Soldier's Mother

This is a a true story that I thought deserved a larger platform...i.e. Blogspot (sidenote: I am not the mother in the story) :

One of my sons serves in the military. He is still stateside, here in California. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him and his troops everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and thank them for being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also. But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped atyesterday, on his way home from the base.

He said that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha. He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the U.S. flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and touched the pin, and said proudly,"Yes, I always wear it and probably always will." The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman: "Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid."

Everyone within hearing distance cheered.

Shameless Plug

Click on "Shameless Plug" above to see the website. This is my parents company...so for all of you who have a need for wholesale paper or chemical supplies....give them a ring!

It's been a week...

Not much new going on right now and no new pictures to share. :o( It's very sad...I know. I'm working on it. Maybe something to share after this weekend. Things are progressing with the move to Italy. The moving company sent a guy over yesterday to look at the house and see what they would have to move. He said it shouldn't take that long because we didn't have anywhere close to our weight limit in stuff to move. Well I could have told him that without him even coming out there. LOL Silly man. So our first shipment is next week and my knees are starting to shake. It's more real now than ever before. Those knots are starting to form and butterflies are flopping everywhere in my insides. LOL Yikes!

Can't get enough of those cats!

This picture was just too perfect to pass up. There are not many chances when the two are actually behaving themselves and I can get to the camera in time. Of course Onyx is so black you can hardly see his face except for those green eyes, but we still love him!!!!

The Mariner's Museum

Luis took me to the Mariner's Museum on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous this past weekend! They were having a civil war exhibit, though we spent most of our time in the actual museum itself. They had a Titanic Exhibit and a whole wing of construction going on where they are restoring The Monitor, well what is left of it anyway. We had to put hard hats on and go out into the construction site which was not necessarily exciting but it was alright. We also found a game in the museum...Along the lines of a video game which I was obviously horrible at. :o) So Luis got to play and he won! Go figure.

This picture is from my company's Christmas Party at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA. I just got it from my company not too long ago and haven't had a chance to scan it until now. The museum is spectacular...With works of art from all genres and many of the pieces have so much depth to them. I really loved walking through the halls and just taking my time, looking at each piece, picking my favorites and trying to explain the depth of the piece to my husband who wanted to look at the pottery and costumes instead. He likes art, just a different kind of art then me. I love oil paintings and he loves three dimensional creations made by hand. I think over time we will both grow to appreciate each others artistic views.

The Opera

I dragged Luis to the opera a few weeks ago. Poor thing. He REALLY didn't want to go. The Marriage of Figaro. That is what we saw, in Italian no less. I like it very much but the last two acts played straight through for 75 minutes and that really is too long to go without an intermission. The good news is he made it through without falling asleep! LOL Yea, Luis! He made it through his first opera.