Thursday, September 8, 2016

Stand Tall.

I don't eat lunch.  I hate taking the time, the calories, just the whole thing.  I avoid lunch dates.

Two days ago, an email came across that was for a LUNCHEON at the New Bern Country Club.  I have no idea why I kept reading.  The luncheon was to celebrate and honor the Military Family of the Quarter.  I am surrounded by military bases, have a sweet nephew in the Marine Corp and have never been to this event.

 I was in.  I said yes to lunch, yes to the country club and yes to celebrating patriotism.

The couple that was being celebrated was a very young couple with a two year old.  They are not from this area.  The shy, soft spoken Marine stood up to say thank you and said, "my wife told me that where ever we go, we need to leave it a better place through our service."

What fabulous words to live by.

A retired Marine stood up and explained what this Honored Marine did for a living.  Please understand, when you are my age, everyone looks young. Seriously, this young man was a baby with a sweet baby face.  His wife, Kate Middleton looking, was equally as young.  Both were poised and so composed.  

Anyway, the young Marine is the wartime/battle field/ combat electronics and communications specialist.   Basically, he was the one that made sure all of the radios, headsets, anything used for communications, in combat,  always work, crystal clear and perfect.

Way to make a 55 year old female feel insignificant.

While I was sitting in this lovely setting...a few days away from the 15th anniversary of 9/11, I wondered if I could have done more for our country?

I don't like the way things are in our country.  I vote.  It is a Vote of HOPE.  I HOPE things change.  I love to debate with folks who don't have my same views; that is how I learn.  I am ALL about the first and  second amendments.  All about them.    Love them.

And I am all about freedom.  

I guess if I could do it all over, I wouldn't sit down, I would stand taller.  I would stand on a ladder to try an inspire others to reach higher heights.  I would stand taller and shout louder and lead by example.   If you have a shoe fetish (who doesn't), no big deal, get shoes to kids who need them.  If your passion is helping people with different skin tones make a better life, I would grab a few, put them under my wing and start teaching and mentoring.   I would encourage others to do the same...especially if I had seven months off.

I would find my passion, my spirit and I would stand taller and yell louder and I would get everyone who feels the same to join me in my cause of being part of the solution.  I would have the freedom to do so.  

I have an adopted child.  My oldest son is adopted.  He was not a baby when we adopted him.  He had more baggage than the baggage claim at LAX.  It didn't matter.  We loved him.  He mattered.  It didn't matter to me that how many fingers, what color skin or how much baggage, we loved him.  We still do.  Unconditionally.  And my love for my oldest child, (I don't like to refer to him as adopted, he is my son) is different than the love for my other two children.  Anybody can birth a child.  It takes special people to come together as a family unit, especially when you didn't start out that way.  What a story that is to tell to others.  If my family  can stand tall and tell it after everything that we have been through, so can other. Stand Tall or Stand Taller....just stand and tell it.  Love matters.  Love for one another matters. Even if you are not the same or came together in ways you didn't expect, if you listen to one another, you can work it out and work at it.   We have all been through some stuff, let's continue to love and get though it.  Work together.  Love and Listen.  Focus on the positive and walk forward.  Grab hands and walk forward.



I don't care how much money you make or how much you do not earn.   Typically, if you are a big time revenue king or queen, you hired well.  You hired a smart firm to negotiate your salary.  Good hire.  Ever see the movie, Jerry McGuire?  Your choice to hire and your choice to negotiate. It was your choice to master a skill or trade, go to college, join the military, live off an inheritance or marry a rich person.  Your choice.  You are free. 

Love the freedom that you can attend movies, football games, poetry readings or dance recitals.  Love the freedom that you can feel and fuel your passion.  Your passion.  Love that you don't become an athletic robot, stripped from your home and your family at a young age  to belong to your government to perform greatness.  Love that you can attend college, and master your skill or athleticism even more and then make a living from this.  

Love that we will celebrate 9/11 and all the lives that were lost and changed that very day.  Love that so many were going to work that day in the Pentagon to help keep our nation and many other nations safe.  Love that Americans said "oh hell no" and exercised freedoms and stormed the cockpit. They Stood Tall.  I don't love that Americans died that day...but they were free in their jobs, careers, they were business owners and some even chose to be late that day.  Freedom. 

Love that you can read to this blog and say "she is a crazy lady or worse"  and not read anymore.  You can close up this blog and listen to any type music you want or even play Candy Crush.  You are Free to do so.  You can even do it at work. 

Or, you can Stand Tall and use your voice and encourage others to use their talents too and perhaps with your passion, you can send a man to Mars.  People laughed about the man on the moon idea, didn't they?

My husband and I didn't plan for our son to become involved with drugs and the law.  We thought he was going to be a Marine.  It didn't happen.   Instead, I found something that stirred my soul, drug addiction and helping those in the addiction hell.    It totally sucks to stand in front of an auditorium filled with people and tell some of the truths I have to tell but I stand. My voice may crack  but I am still standing. 

I applaud those who draw attention to those things that need fixed.  Like my favorite boss always said, "no bitching if there is no pitching  to fix."  Love that expression. Live it.

This Sunday is 9/11.  Fifteen years ago on 9/11, I found out I was pregnant with my son Walker.  He was born that following May.  He weighed 9/11.  He is our sign of HOPE. LIFE is the greatest form of love.

On Sunday, celebrate Love, celebrate Freedom.  Celebrate our Country.  Celebrate those who went before us and even if you don't agree with what they stood for, celebrate their ultimate sacrifices and passions.  If that is too much for you....celebrate the fact that a group of folks got on a boat, skimmed on the supplies, over packed the beer and salted meat, forgot the fruit, brought  a lousy map and ended up in the coldest part of the East coast, right before winter.  This was just to  worship freely.  It really does seem like an overwhelming feat just to pray.  So, tip your glass to them and what they stood for.  What they did was way tougher than sitting down. 

This Sunday, take somebody to lunch.  When the hostess  asks if you want a booth or a table seat, say you want the counter and STAND.  Celebrate Freedom.  And sing if you want too, even if it is off key.  



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