Happy Birth Day Colorado Style

Friday morning, my daughter's birthday, my son's wedding, an emotional day. Unknown to her, I invited the wedding party over for a surprise breakfast birthday party. The girls and I got up and fixed breakfast and set it on the picnic table out front. We sat up a gift table with The Southern Bell cake in the middle (the much more expensive Southern Bell cake when you factor in the speeding ticket). Breakfast and birthday cake... What could be better? The guys and girls began to arrive and we gathered out front for the  birthday song and breakfast. The horses grazed beside the yard and as the sun began to wipe the chill away. In the foothills of Colorado we celebrated the birth of a Sailor. I've always felt birthday should be pronounced... "Birth-Day", because as a mom I

tend to relive the day of my children's birth on their birthday. I remember hers better than the others because I, (for some stupid reason), wanted to do it drug-free and all the other crap you tend to idealize with your first child. I smartened up after her and went for the drug induced haze on the other two,(not really but kind of). Anywho... (rabbit trail) When I held that pink bundle of joy in my arms for the first time, I could only imagine she would turn out to be the fascinating person she is today. To say I admire her strength, courage and tenacity is an understatement. She is someone who has

achieved things I could never dream of, has done more than I could ever hope, and has gone places I would have never believed possible. This was her moment, this was her "Birth Day". Happy Birth Day Sissy. Love you tons and bunches.

"Be Sweet"

I have always told my kids... "Be Sweet" when I dropped them off at school or when they left to spend the night with a friend. I think all parents want their children to represent them well when they are out of eye shot. A Momma can always give a kid the eye that says 10 times more than anything a man could say with words, but when you're not there.... You just have to keep your fingers crossed and stay close to the phone just in case. So "Be Sweet" has been my official warning, along with "Make good choices". Earlier in the week I took my little Sailor to the doctor. I knew that they would probably have to dope her up before they began her treatment and flashbacks of when she had her wisdom teeth kept running through my head. My husband was bringing her home and she was totally looped out from the medication. He was guiding her up the front steps when the front

door opened. The lady who cleaned the house was there and had seen him walking up the steps. My daughter took one look at her and said... "I don't like you.... You're fired!" with the slurred speech of a drunken sailor. My husband (a man of few words) just smiled and rolled his eyes as he turned her in the direction of her room. So, when the nurse called her back the other day, I stood up, gave my daughter a hug and said... "Be sweet." She just smiled and promised she would try. Later when they called us back, she was curled up on the bed. I sat in the chair beside her bed and began feeding her ice chips. She looked up at me with those sweet little eyes (like she was 8 instead of 28) and said... "Momma, I wasn't ugly." It took me a second to figure out what she was talking about and she must have seen my confusion because she said... "The nurses said I didn't act ugly, I was sweet." Awe, she's still Momma's sweet little girl! No matter where she goes or how old she grows, she will always be Momma's little girl.

I Hate to be Late Especially for a Birth Date

I hate to be late... It's a huge pet peeve of mine. On a typical work day, I arrive 30 minutes early. If I'm on time for something, then I feel late and can be terribly fussy with whomever has made me "on time". So, when the doctor told me my due date for my first child was June 15th, I believed it was June 15th. He may have looked at that as an estimate, I looked at it as set in stone. On June 14th the nursery was completely finished, clothes folded and in the drawers, Nana and Papa on standby and me willing and ready to get the show on the road. Since I hadn't even had one contraction, my husband and I took a long walk downtown to spur things along. As he waddled me back home, I had to sit and rest on the curb before continuing.  I stubbornly refused a ride from a friend because..... well, because I was stubborn. When I woke up on June 15th I was already somewhat discouraged since I felt perfectly fine and by noon I was getting terribly concerned. If the birthing instructor was correct, and I was in labor 12 hours or more, than that would be pushing the baby's birth closer to tomorrow than today...  In my books that was late and I was not a happy camper. When my husband left to go back to work, he gave me a hug and told me not to worry and then bent toward my belly to offer a stern warning to it's occupant that things would go much smoother if everyone was on time. He headed back to work and I headed to my Mother-In-Law's house to wash laundry since our washer was on the blink. When I returned home from her house I felt a twinge in my mid-section and literally remember saying to myself.... "I wonder if that is what labor feels like." I thought to myself.... "after General Hospital goes off, if I'm still aching, I'll call my Mother-in-Law to describe the ache and see what she thinks." That was a funny phone call! Talk about getting someone who is usually very calm and subdued riled up about something, that phone call did the trick. She instructed me to hang tight she was on her way. I calmly called my husband and my parents to let them know that although I wasn't that hopeful, I would go ahead and let her take me to the hospital just to be sure. When Virginia, who is probably 5'4" and 98 pounds soaking wet comes to the house, she is a little ball of fire. I have never, nor did I ever again see her in such a state of excitement. She refused to allow me to even carry my own pillow and guided and pushed me into the car like we were fleeing an alien invasion. When we got to the hospital she ran around and opened my door, jerked my pillow out of my arms and started issuing instructions. This is one of those moments where you would just have to have known her and how quiet she was to truly understand how hysterically funny it was to see her this way. We got to the hospital at 5:00, which by my standards was WAY behind schedule. My husband arrived and we settled in for what we expected to be a long process...... Wrong! My first child was just as keen on promptness as her Momma. After a mere 3 hours of labor, my daughter fought her way into the bright lights and steel surroundings of the delivery room. She entered this world with plenty of expression and like her Momma never hesitates to speak her mind or prove her point. I'll never forget seeing her Daddy lean over the bassinet they placed her in. Her flailing hands found his finger and a sudden hush fell over her as he began to sing the ABC song just as he had done every night. Her round little face, red from all the squalling, quieted as her eyes searched frantically for the voice she knew.

Today those little hands grip the barrel of a M240 as she sails into foreign ports on the destroyer she proudly serves on.  Today those little eyes search the horizon for anything that would threaten the security of the land that she loves. Still today her ability to express herself has come in handy as she copes with being a woman in a very male environment. Happy Birthday Sissy!!! I know you love to hear your birth story on your birthday, but since you are away this year I put it here for you to see when you return home. June 15th, the day we welcomed you into our world and one of the happiest days of my life. Love you tons and bunches..... Momma

Nothing In Life Is Free

Prayer pays off!! I am a living, breathing, testimony of God's faithfulness. Eight months ago my daughter left on deployment with the United States of American. Standing at only 5'4" tall, and maybe 120lbs soaking wet it was hard to imagine her facing what lay ahead. Plagued with kidney stones, and severely homesick it looked to be a very long deployment. My first instinct was to steal her back from the government but this is something I knew she needed to conquer. My second option was to worry myself sick about her, which maybe unconsciously I did. But my best option was to place her into the hands of her creator and just believe that he had everything under control. Friday at noon, I stood at the end of the pier shoulder to shoulder with 6 other people who love her almost as much as I do as the same ship that sailed out several months ago, sailed back into the port they call home. Many of my friends expected me to be screaming for joy... instead I just stood there in tearful silence, searching for the cherub face of my first born child. A thrill and a pride washed over me that had to have resembled the pride and admiration that washed over God as he watched his only Son rise from the dead. Words cannot adequately express the feeling you have when the child who came from such and imperfect womb accomplishes something far beyond your imagination. As she sailed back into her home port I knew she was coming back a much different person than she left. The last day of our visit we stood on Mount Solodad reading the plagues of those who have fought and died for our freedom. My daughter turned to me and said "Mom, I never really understood what would cause someone to love their country so much they would actually die for it, but after being in so many different countries, I totally get it. This is the greatest nation of all and I totally understand that it is worth dying for, your little girl is a Sailor Mom". Not only did God safely bring back my daughter safe and sound, he brought her back as a woman who loves her country more than she thought possible and has a new appreciation for the blessings so many take for granted. Nothing in life is free..... Especially freedom.

What Is That Out There In The Water???

I can't believe it's been almost 8 months since I got that last phone
call telling me goodbye as my daughter set sail on the open sea. I get
choked up just thinking about not being able to be there in person to
tell her goodbye. I'm so excited about her coming home I can hardly
contain myself. I'm afraid that the dam, which has stayed pretty intact
since she left, will break and all of the tears I've stored up for the
last 8 months will come pouring out. If you happen to be going to the
homecoming and you see something in the distant water bobbing up and
down, it just may be this Momma's head as she attempts to swim out to
meet her baby. Seriously, someone better hold me back.