Welcome, Ven a gozar!

I remember when I was small child, my father talking to me about adult matters. More specifically it was grown male matters he spoke of. How Men behave, and how Men should act. My father never came right out and said so, but he left me with the vague impression there were grown men who were not Men. They inhabited adult bodies, but never quite fit the mold needed to be called Men by him.

When I grew up I understood what he was trying to make clear to me all those years ago. What I believe my father meant was that there are certain rules that Men follow. In my father’s opinion all Men were held to certain standards. Men are expected to keep, or exceed those unwritten standards. On the other hand there are male adults who did not make the grade of being Men in my father’s system, would be placed in the category of men.

Men had virtues, namely integrity and honesty. In a Man’s world, a hand shake was a Man’s bond. Whatever was agreed upon was sealed when Men shook hands on it. There was no need to clarify major or minor details. It was understood between the Men involved that there was no hidden agenda, or plan to cheat one another. A Man who dealt with another Man knew the other Man would uphold the unwritten standards they both lived by.

There are also men in the world. These men could not be trusted, and were not dealt with in the same manner as Men. These were men who thought the world existed for them to take advantage of others. As such, Men only dealt with men when they had to. Because men could not be trusted, dealings with them took longer.

Every point had to be agreed upon and discussed, every question needed to be asked. It was important in these dealings that a Man ensure everything is addressed. It was not good enough for example to sell something, and expect to be paid on Monday when promised by a man. When dealing with men, the transaction was never really complete, there could be problems later on.

I know the main beliefs my father used in his scale was one of  trust - obviously. If a Man could be trusted, he was trusted, otherwise he was shunned and ignored. A Man would never do anything that would tarnish his name or reputation. In those times, for many people, their name was the most valuable thing they owned. People tended to their name the way they would care for a prized possession.

Today our society is a mobile society. Unfortunately, it is now a poor personal choice to treat strangers with the level of trust they would be shown in my father’s time. We do not know people as we used to when the world was bigger and life slower. Some people do not put as much value to their family name as they used to. Moving to a new city is easier than cleaning up a bad reputation. In some social circles lying and cheating, are not only acceptable, but praised, and valued as something worthy.

The number of people we trust is probably about the same number as it was in my father’s day. The number of people we can not trust has grown much larger. I do not think it is because we have thrown virtue and good behavior by the wayside. I think we can not be as trusting, because there are more people in our lives, both Men, and men.

There are still pockets of people around the world, who believe someone’s word is their bond, and they try to live life with trust and integrity. These people will never go away because they are a group of people who keep the world in balance. They are also people we can judge our own morals and values against. I hope you are one of those people!

Comments (0) Dec 17 2007

When we have have enough water here in New Mexico, I enjoy spring kayaking on a local lake. I always find being on the water relaxing, just floating and soaking up the sun. I occasionally also drown a worm or two, to make it look like I am actually doing something other than slowly paddling around the lake. I would not want it to get out that sometimes moving slow can be fun too.

In the spring our weather here is different compared to other areas of the country. You can almost set your watch by the winds here. In early morning, the weather of course is beautiful. It remains that way until about eleven o’clock when a slight breeze makes itself known. It is usually light perhaps no more than five miles per hour starting out. As the clock moves closer to one o’clock the breeze starts taking on a personality. The breeze becomes a full blown wind. Thirty mile an hour wind, with gusts reaching forty or more miles per hour is not uncommon.

The lake I paddle on is a river which is dammed up. This makes for a long narrow lake, with very deep water in the middle. The wind hits the lake at the end with the dam on it and blows up the river channel. The wind is strong enough, and the waves generated are big enough, that they chase off the sailboats and fisherman from the water. They probably have more sense than I do, and leave before the waves become too serious. In a kayak though play time has begun - if you are creative.

One day when the wind really started to blow, and the waves went higher, I found a way to enjoy the wind and waves. I paddle my kayak along the shoreline where the wind isn’t much of a bother down to the dam area. Once there I line myself up as much as possible to paddle across the lake in the direction the wind is blowing. I have found that with little paddling on my part, I do a New Mexico version of kayak surfing for about a mile across the lake before I run out of water.

There was a brilliant man, Ralph Nelson Elliott who among other things made himself rich forecasting how the stock market would perform. Elliott developed and promoted a theory that everything happened in waves in the stock market. When the stock market would surge up in a Bull market, the trends could be predicted in a certain series of waves. When the stock market would trend down it could also be tracked in a different series of waves or surges.

Elliott made himself and many others very wealthy, from predicting market trends by charting the stock market, and analyzing charts. Elliott was also an author of sorts, but his books never achieved any real popularity that I am aware of. Elliott unfortunately could not escape one of the pitfalls that hit many people operating in the stratosphere of the mind. In middle age Elliott was committed, and his life, and career were effectively over.

If you live long enough, and pay attention, you will realize my kayaking story, and the brilliance of Elliott apply to our own life. The Elliot wave theory once it was analyzed was found to share structure with the Fibonacci sequence, and the Golden ratio which are so prevalent in our lives we usually are not even aware of them.

These waves that flow up and down also flow in our lives. There are times when we shine, and other weeks when we do not regardless of any apparent effort of our own. It is important that we identify where we are in the cycle, and capitalize on the high points. Paddle close to shore during the low points. When we do this life is good and everything is in concert with us. When we go against the natural flow of life, our world tends to be more difficult, leading to unneeded frustration. Following the rhythm of our life is easy if we are paying attention.

Going against your life’s rhythm is hard. I suggest you always try to take the easy road and enjoy the trip.

Comments (0) Dec 16 2007

In 1982 a movie, Ghandi arrived on the silver screen. It was an instant block buster movie, and remains today a very powerful movie for many reasons. I really can not remember much about the movie with the exception of Ghandi traveling to different places.

Over my lifetime, I have moved many times. Moving from place to place had been a pattern throughout my life. Moving also follows me into my dreams. This time of year for some reason, I have a somewhat recurring type of dream, well two different dreams actually. The first dream does not have any time attached to it. It could have happened last year, many years ago, or next year. I do not know if that makes it timeless or not, but it is probably as close as I will get. In this dream I am living in a house somewhere. Usually I am sharing a house with a friend, someone I actually know.

I know in this dream that I have no job, and no purpose for staying there, other than I wanted to go somewhere, and I have not started back home yet. I know I have my own home somewhere else, and I have responsibilities waiting at my house. There is one slight variation in this dream and that is sometimes I have two houses, and I have responsibilities at each one. I also have no apparent job at the house I am staying at. It bothers me in my dream I have no job, but I also feel no urge to go out and get a job either because I am not really living there, just hanging around for a few weeks.

In my second dream I move back to the house I first remember living in. The house has not existed anywhere except in my head for a long, long time. Yet, in my dream it is there just as I remember it. The yard is the same, and the land around the house is the same. The only difference outside the house is the driveway is longer than it was.

Once I am inside the house many things are different. The house was five rooms, but in my dream it is much bigger, and also has a second floor. For whatever reason I live on the second floor. On the second floor I discover a door I never noticed before that leads into a mansion sized house. Sometimes there is a family, or families living there, sometimes not.

The nice thing about my dreams and living in all these houses, is I do not seem to collect all the things I am to attached in waking life. I do not have hundreds of books, shelves of nick-nacks, fishing gear, camping gear, and the tools I have acquired over the years. In my dreams moving is not a big deal. All I need to do is walk out of the house, and go back to where I came from.

My dreams are like the movie Ghandi when it comes to travelling. There is a scene in the movie, I do not remember the circumstances, only the scene. Ghandi is going somewhere, and is collecting his possessions. Ghandi had his white robe, his glasses, his shoes, and one book. If memory serves me right, that is all he had to call his own, in the movie at least.

What most of us need in our lives is somewhere between too much junk, and the few things Ghandi owned - in the movie at least. I am not so sure, my life would be so much fun without my treasury of things that are important to me. I hope you too have your collection of items that have memories attached. For me they are the glue that tie the years of my life together. I hope they are glue for you too, and I hope you have a truckload of memories to go with them!

Comments (0) Dec 15 2007

Sometimes, I think we have lost our real American Dream. Our substitute vision is the television commercial stating the American Dream these days is a few kids, and a white picket fence in Suburbia. Of course the speaker goes on to discredit this idea, and empowers us, but we need more voices in the choir to make a difference.

Back in the sixties John F. Kennedy, encouraged us with this quote during his inauguration address:

And so, my fellow americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, January 20, 1961
35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 - 1963)

We have done a lot since the sixties, most of it in line with the vision the Kennedy era left us. As with all good things there are a few things we do these days that I do not think are part of the American Dream. I think we have left behind parts of the American Dream. We have turned the American Dream into a few kids, a house, a steel, barbed wire topped fence, and isolation.

Humanity and compassion seem to be left somewhere along the roadside between the sixties and now. Even our own personal enjoyment of life seems to have diminished. We have lost the vision of neighbor, city, state, and country to a large extent. We are spending too much time in personal cocoons where we participate but we do not share. And then we wonder why we are some of the loneliest people on the earth today.

It is believed that President Kennedy took inspiration and maybe a little liberty with his quote from a gentleman of a generation before him. The man who Kennedy is thought to be loosely quoting is Dr. Howard Thurman. Dr. Thurman was a world traveller, meeting with many great leaders of his day. Dr. Thurman was a prolific author, and a human rights activist as well.

I would like to see more people like Dr. Thurman about in our world today. Perhaps someone like Dr. Thurman would teach us once again the importance of a balanced life. How to have respect, and compassion for others in our world. Maybe Dr. Thurman would show us how to practice what we hear in our churches weekly, and from the mouths of our leaders when desire is not the pressing issue.

I think what parents living anywhere in the United States today wants for their present, future, and their children’s future is the same across our country, and probably the world. The opportunity to live in peace, and pursue whatever future we may individually dream.

The original quote that President Kennedy was thought to have modified in his speech is this:

Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive… then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

- Howard Thurman 1900 - 1981

How great life would be if people of the world came alive! If we would stop and think our own thoughts, instead thoughts fed to us daily - thoughts intending to create fear and uncertainty. I think most of us would be surprised at what we, not the controlling influences surrounding us, think are important.

Dr. Thurman had another quote that I think is appropriate for this time of year. Dr. Thurman’s quote sure does read like the American Dream wrapped up in the Christmas spirit. My wish for you is you enjoy experiencing some of Dr Thurman’s quote over the next few weeks!

“When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins: To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among others, To make music in the heart.”

Comments (0) Dec 14 2007

As I was making a cup of coffee this morning, I was thinking about what I am grateful for today. I threw out yesterdays coffee grounds and rinsed the permanent filter out. Then I rinsed and filled the cup with water so I could fill the reservoir. I put the cup back where it goes, and pushed the power switch down. In about three minutes I have a great cup of very hot coffee that I simply pour into a better cup than the insulated travel cup the Brew n’ Go brews into.

I have been using this little one cup maker for a number of years now, and I have been very happy with it. It has replaced my Braun coffee maker, and it replaced my French press coffee maker, although my French press makes a slightly better cup of coffee.

The Braun coffee maker makes an excellent cup of coffee, it just makes too many of them at one time. I do not see the sense in making a single cup with a big coffee maker. The French press makes the best coffee, but it too makes more coffee than I usually drink in a morning, unless I am really into twitching that particular day.

I have owned my thrifty little Brew n’ Go for a number of years now, and it has rarely failed me. The only problem I have had with it is a the little one way valve where the water is let into the heating unit, comes out every few months. I simply push it back in and it is good for another three or so months.

A second of my favorite drinks in the morning, and occasionally later at night is a nice hot cup of tea. There is nothing challenging about making tea. I am all for simple is better, so for my cup of tea, I simply fill a mug with water, drop in a tea bag, and heat it up in the microwave until it is just short of boiling. I then let it sit and steep for about two minutes, and I have a great cup of tea waiting for me. I have enjoyed different teas in different areas of the country and world, but a few brands do stand out for me. I really enjoy Rose tea. I also enjoy a Japanese tea, Yamamoto Yama Green Tea. I think they are good value for the money and they taste very good.

I am happy having a nice bowl of oatmeal these days for breakfast. There is nothing outstanding in the oatmeal department in my weekday morning. I usually am very happy with the Walmart brand of instant. It is quick and I think it tastes okay. Others have told me it is not that all that great, but it works for me.

One the weekend though, especially in the winter, I really like to make a steel cut oatmeal that is imported from Ireland. The oatmeal is named John McCann’s, and it is different than oatmeal most of us are used to eating. McCann’s oatmeal has a different texture and a nice nutty flavor that is really good with a little butter, and some sugar to sweeten it up a little.

I have moved far away from my little coffee maker and into breakfast, but I am grateful for these other foods too in the morning. They make life a little more interesting, especially on the weekends. Now if I could only find some black cherry tea here locally. There is one brand here that I have found, but it tastes like hot black cherry soda pop. Not exactly my idea of a good hot drink.

I do not live in snow country, but I used to live in the snow belt. When I did I would have been really grateful if all the snow that fell overnight, or was pushed back into the driveway by the snow plow would remove itself without my help. Unfortunately, that would be moving from being grateful to fantasy.

Comments (3) Dec 13 2007

Change threads its way through my blog. Change is one of the hardest things for us humans to accept. Resisting change is a trait we share with cats, fwiw. Cat’s dislike change even more than we do. Most of us create our own internal schedule, and our own rhythms. We do not like our boat to be rocked at all. I have spent a great part of my working life doing jobs that thrive on change. I am one of the few people who like change –  at work.

I am not someone who likes impulsive things, but I do like change at work as I tend to get bored over time doing the same thing over and over again. One job I really enjoyed that that most people would find boring was being a dishwasher at a restaurant. For some reason I found being a dishwasher very relaxing. It had a nice rhythm, and I suppose there was enough movement, and task separation to make it fun - for me at least.

We need change in our lives. Even though most of us will say we like change, we tend to fight change whenever we can. Even when we are miserable, and hate our life situation, we stay in it rather than try doing something different in our life. And that is too bad. Like people in a bad relationship, no matter what the cause, we sit in our misery, because no matter how bad things are, it is comfortable. It may not be fun, but it is comfortable and knowable. We humans like constancy in our lives.

I can find a number of reasons why I did not want to change something in my life even when I knew deep down inside I should have changed it a long time ago. I could tick off those reasons into categories, sub categories, and sometimes even find referenced links between categories. I imagine most people are the same way. Eventually something comes along that will make me change whatever it is I am resisting.

Whatever happens is the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. One problem too many, and I can’t deal with it any more. I am forced to change, like it or not. Then once the change has been in place for a while, I wonder what I was so against? The change is good, even fun, once I finish pouting about it. Sometimes it is painful, but over a lifetime I have learned pain is all relative. I would rather a good friend move away than have them killed in an accident. I would rather have some ailment that is a reminder I am not a teenager any longer, than be told I have some terminal disease.

The point of all the above, is to say do not wait until you are in complete misery before accepting the fact that either you, or something in your life has to change. It is easier to start working that change when it becomes evident that you must make a change than wait until life really rains on your parade. Generally once people accept they have to make changes, and actually make a change in their life, they are happy they did.

Like the lyrics in the song tell us, ‘Change will do you good…’. Try it out change yourself. Try embracing change instead of putting it off. You may be surprised at the results. If you are someone who needs to practice, go to a clothing store and buy some shirt or top that you generally would never wear in public. Take it home, wash it and wear it the next day. Wear it every week or ten days. You will see that change is not as terrible as you thought it might be. We are all changing all the time, it can’t be stopped, but it can be less painful than we allow it to be.

Comments (1) Dec 12 2007

Life, just like learning a trade is done in small steps. When a master carpenter first takes up carpentry they are not immediately qualified to work at the level of a master carpenter. They have to go through the stages just like anyone else. They may have some experience at carpentry, and they may be expert at a task or two, but they are a long way from being a master class carpenter. They may be good at using a hammer, but have never used a carving tool or a chisel.

I remember watching a carpentry show about master carpentry in Japan. An apprentice carpenter may be an apprentice twenty or more years before he is allowed to work on a real project. When he is allowed to work on a real project, his work and his masters work are of the same caliber and skill level.

A lesson was given in the show about the difference between a master carpenters plane, and that of an apprentice plane. I thought the apprentice using his plane was doing a fine job until I watched the master carpenter plane off curls of wood thinner than a sheet of paper. The skill of the master was apparent both in the care he took of his tools, and in the quality of his work.

Some of us we have created, or live a right now life style. We want it all right now. For a few this lifestyle works well, but for most it is a struggle both to achieve and to try and maintain. Most give up trying after a short period of time because the energy required is just too great, having it all right now. Like the apprentice carpenter we need to take the time to learn what we need to learn before we move on to the next level of our life. Life is like the story of the blind men and the elephant. We all have hold of a different part of life, and we need to understand that this is likely the perfect place for us right now, even though it is not where someone else who’s life we may envy or want to emulate appears to be at.

Everything happens in its own time and at its own pace. The bigger or more complex our wants, the longer it generally takes to have them fulfilled. There are no shortcuts, and there are no free passes. When we want something, we have to work towards it, and not expect it until such time we are ready for it, and it is ready for us.

A good way to tell if you are doing the right things right is to pause. While you take a break in the flow of your life, decide how you feel at that moment. If you feel contentment and peace, you are on the correct path for you. However if you find you are tense, and are going through one problem, or crisis after another in trying to achieve your goal, it is then time to stop and evaluate what you really want, and how you are really trying to achieve it.

If you find you are struggling to arrive at the life point you have set for yourself, this is an indicator that what you think you want, and what you are doing are at odds with each other. You may have started out going in the right direction with the right intention, but somewhere either what you want, or what you are doing to achieve it have changed. You have to decide what has changed, and what is your real goal.

On the other hand, if you are content, and your life feels comfortable, you are doing the right things right and you should continue doing what you are doing. When what you want in your life is aligned with what you are doing, life flows smoothly. When they are not in alignment, life tends to get a little frustrating sometime.

Comments (0) Dec 11 2007

When we are born the world revolves around us. We are hungry, cold, tired, and so on. The basic things we need for our own survival consumes our world as infants, and as children. Entering school, we are a damp sponge waiting to be filled with knowledge. Our school system is intended to feed us the knowledge we need to be fiscally productive members of society. But that is not a life purpose, to be a skilled robot in the workforce. Everything in our life served a life purpose, but not the type we are looking for at this moment in our life.

If our parents belonged to some formal religion, and both practiced and attended, it is likely that we also received some level formal religious training. As we grew, we entered into different levels of religious training, but it is for the most part a one way feed of receive and regurgitate system of learning. This learning taught us a life style, but not a life purpose.

One day school is over, we have a McJob, or we arrive at a point in our life where we relax and look around. At this point we look around, and see that some people out there seem to have a mission that drives them and makes them happy. Many of us unfortunately do not have this built in mission. Suddenly we feel empty, and without purpose when it does not become immediately apparent to us what our life purpose is.

I wish to reassure you it is completely normal to feel this way. You do not need a life purpose right at this moment. You already have a life purpose going on in your life. For some of us this stage may last a day, for others it will be the rest of our life.

This stage we enter when we raise our heads, look around and realize for the first time in our life, there is more to the world than just us. People out there seem to have a life purpose but we do not seem to have one! This is the point when the posts appear, and all the questions are asked about life purpose, and how to find it.

If someone you know is at this stage, or you are here, there are probably a few major things going on in your life? The first is you no longer need to learn anything formally unless you wish to. Relationships with others also become strained at this point because suddenly you are figity, inside and out. This usually happens before you are even aware of it. All this thinking is sometimes painful, and it seems like a complete waste of your life and your energy. It really is important to do this thinking, as it is one of those pay now, or pay later parts of your life.

The best thing to do at this point is take the time to really learn about you. Find out about the person you really are. As you learn about you, you will find out many important things about you. What is acceptable and what is not have changed over time in the different venues of your life. Decide what you expect from your life in future years. What will make you happy inside, and let you feel good about yourself? This is ‘the’ purpose in your life at this time. Do a good job of learning about you, enjoying the exploration of you as a life purpose, and the rest will of your life will be emotionally richer, and fulfilling.

Comments (0) Dec 10 2007

When I was a kid, for Christmas money I sold Christmas cards. It was not any big project, and I doubt it was even a good buy for my customers. But I would manage to sell enough Christmas cards to be able to by Christmas presents for my Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents, and my Mother and Father.

There I was, a nine or ten year old boy, having his once a year experience at playing big-shot, out buying Christmas presents. I was loaded, I had almost twenty-nine dollars which was a big sum of money for a little kid. I had spent about twenty dollars of my money on the Aunts and Uncles, and Grandparents presents, which left me about nine dollars for my folks. That was two gifts, and perhaps a candy bar and a Pez for myself.

My folks wanted to go to Goldfines, which was a new super department store in our city. Because I had nine whole dollars I wanted to get something really neat for my folks, something they would really like. I was walking, going from one part of the store to another when I spotted two sets of silverware in boxes. Wow, silverware was just the thing! We did not own a real set of silverware, but rather most of a complete set, and parts of other sets. This set said it was complete and had service for eight people. Seeing there were only three of us, I thought that would be a great gift. I was all excited as I saw the price was nine dollars and twenty-three cents. I checked my pockets and I had twenty-three cents, I was in business!

I picked up one of the boxes and worked my way back to the cash registers and stood in line. I was so excited, and my parents would be so surprised and excited! I had never seen brand new silverware before, and I wondered what it was like to eat using brand new silverware? I finally made it to the cash register and placed my purchase on the counter.

It was a woman cashier, and when she finished with the woman in front of me, she took my silverware and rang it up. She looked at her cash register, and said to me, “Nine dollars and eighty-six cents.” I was shocked, I was sure the price was nine dollars and twenty-three cents, and I said so. The cashier told me I read the price wrong, and I did not include the sales tax. Tax, what was tax I asked? When she told me, I said I only had my nine dollars and twenty-three cents, and could she take that? She said no, I had to pay the tax too.

I was crushed, and I did not know what to do. I told her I didn’t have the extra money. She told me I could not buy the silverware. I didn’t want to let go of the silverware because I was sure someone else would pick it up and buy it. I took the box, and stepped away, absolutely stunned. As I stood there watching the people pay, I had an idea, a terrible and low idea, but it could work. I started asking people leaving for sixty-three cents so I could buy the silverware.

Of course no one gave me any money, I was a kid begging, and who is going to give money to a kid. I received a few mean remarks, but mostly was ignored. Someone of course was put out enough to tell a salesman what was going on. This man showed up and asked what I was doing bothering customers?

I explained my problem to him. He told me he was Mr. Goldfine and in his opinion this one time they could take my nine dollars and twenty-three cents for the silverware. I was so excited! Here was the man who owned this huge store doing business with me like I was a grown-up customer! Better yet, I could get the silverware too! I don’t remember what I got for Christmas presents that year, but I still remember what I gave out, and I remember the man that made it possible.

Comments (0) Dec 09 2007

This is a military story, Air Force, overseas…years ago. I think often of the men and women serving overseas, because I spent three years serving outside the United States, and I remember how quickly during the holidays I started missing home, especially Christmas at home.

Starting about this time of the month radio stations would start playing Christmas music along with regular songs. It was nice to hear Christmas music playing on the radio just like I would at home. Of course the DJ running that segment had his own comments about the season, and what his family was doing for Christmas. That part was okay, because with a little remembering, I could guess what my family was doing each day.

I would remember they would like to get together as a group and shop on this day. Christmas meal planning would usually be coordinated over the phone for the Christmas feast. They would meet at one of their homes, bake cookies this day, and maybe the next day too. Then there was the individual family baking. Those little treats that one family may enjoy, that were too time consuming, or costly to share with everyone.

So it really was not too hard to be home for the holidays in my imagination. I could keep track between the calendar and my imagination what was going on at home. I think we all did this. Unfortunately being in security, and guarding something in the middle of the night with my M16 rifle, flak jacket, helmet, and flashlight for company, it was a little hard to keep the holiday spirit going. Some of the other guys in my Flight would get care packages, which would be sometimes shared at work, so that helped some.

When television was less than spectacular, and I was not working, I would occasionally listen to the radio. As I mentioned there were the regular Christmas songs, so it was easy to pretend I was close to home, but off doing something, so no family, or friends were around at the moment.

When the date moved around to about the fifteenth, it seemed one Christmas song in particular managed to be played what seemed like four times an hour. Care to guess the name of the song before you read on?

If you guessed, “I’ll be home for Christmas”, give yourself a pat on the shoulder for a good guess! It seemed that every other Christmas song played was, I’ll be home for Christmas! After about a week of it, I could hear it in the back of my head while doing other things. I could even hear it in my sleep, or so it seemed!

Every December, since I came back to ‘The World’ (as it is was called then), portions of some days, and some nights only part of me is here, and sleeping in my own bed. Another part of me, is standing next to some nineteen year old who is out in the rain, or cold, with no light, heat, or company, thinking about what his or her family is doing for Christmas, and how he or she would really like to be there too, even for a few hours.

Before I spent my time in the military, I never gave the people serving a second thought. Since then, I am very aware of how even the ‘safe’ folks overseas are sacrificing for me, so I can have a happy fun filled holiday season. I won’t even attempt to account for how the folks in combat zones are fairing. I know none of them will be home for Christmas this year, but when they do get home for Christmas, it will not be the same for them either. So when I seem a little preoccupied, it is probably because I am thinking about what Christmas means to those who are not here to enjoy it. It is hard to know what it is like serving overseas during an important holiday, unless you have been there. Lots of fun, is not one the phrases generally used to describe the Christmas season.

Comments (0) Dec 08 2007