Milsupport Impact on the Family:
I took the kids to the pool at our YMCA. It's hardly a pool really, more like a veritable water park.
Padded deck for the splash pad areas, slow slopes into the pool to ease the littlest swimmers into play on slides or under a giant bucket dumping well timed water on their maniacally delighted little heads.
Bedecked in brightly colored swimsuits with their hair plastered down around their ears from the last dousing, they made a science of finding the perfect spot to stand in for the next deluge and still jumped up as if it was a huge surprise to be gasping for air and grabbing at their shorts to keep them up.
I loved all the
"Look mommy!",
"Hey take a picture of this for Dad!"
"Watch me!"s
Enthusiasm like that is contagious and almost expected. If any of those exhortations are said repeatedly at you at an eardrum splitting decibel, it can even be perturbing...
Yet, what made this mama's heart burst was watching them pause once in while in their joyful noise to remember one or another of our friends in Iraq or Afghanistan.(Course, I'm thinking Matthew, America's 1st Sgt.'s arch brownie nemesis is gunning for Mike in this one, Wanna chip? Psyche!Wanna chip? Psyche!Wanna chip? Psyche!Poor Little Guy, come R&R, there'll be hell to pay...)
While there (hopefully, mom thought) wearing themselves out in the water, one of my progeny would smile and hold up three fingers.(In this case, family code for "hey send this picture to 3rd Bn, 3rd Marines. Each unit, shop or company we work with has some number we like to use when we say hi, so they know we are thinking about them in whatever picture it is.)
I won't gush, I swear, but I really was proud of my little otherwise sibling teasing, wedgie giving, How-come-I-never-get-to-and-what's-for-dinner, toads.
My kiddos don't really know the reasons we are over there in more detailed terms aside from: the "Mahweens and soljurs" as my littlest calls them. Warriors, as my older children hear their own father call them, are faaar away over the ocean at war. Thekiddos know these men and women have families they miss, that they can't have ice cream or chips anytime they want and that it's HOT there a lot of the time or very cold. These are simple child perspectives that measure a circumstance in what ways children would identify as sacrifice.
JOHN HART: One Person's Sacrifice
I didn't think anymore of the pool outing until I got an email tonight from Coffeypot, which discussed what befell each of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in the aftermath of putting their name to it. The preface of the piece was:
"They were men of means, and well-educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured."
The quote struck me, perhaps because of the carefree time I had with the children yesterday. Seen in a new context where much less was assured for the citizenry there, I read this:
"John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished."
I thought about his 21st century peers at the pool yesterday with the Lexxus SUVS parked out front, hanging shingles here in the Clear Lake area as engineers, attorneys, physicians or business owners and living in their own suburban fiefdoms. Texas is a state known for a tradition of philanthropy. Like Hart, many families here of means,whether great or small participate heavily in the building of churches, schools and groups like United Way and other relief efforts.
I wondered if any of the men or women sunbathing or enjoying their kids that day took the next step or would if called upon like Hart had been, to take another step into public service to help lead their community? Would any of them have been willing to risk their reputation and everything they had built to maintain their way of life on their terms?
Would they leave their spouse on their death bed to continue their service, have their home and business ransacked and burned, only to return and find their spouse dead and their children gone? In their midsixties, would they hide in a cave and the woods for a year and emerge from there still so fully convicted in their cause they would welcome Washington's rebel troops to use their fields during growing season to prepare for battle and then die soon after penniless?
I wonder.
I feel blessed to know that this man did.
I would hope that in similar circumstances I would as well.
I honor his sacrifice and those that with him, signed this blueprint for our fledgling country. I hope my family will always be willing to perpetuate our forefathers' efforts.
Sage said all this pretty darn well, too.
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LETTTERS TO LEATHER NECKS:
Saturday Sitrep
Ally has been busy just dubbing her little heart out from regular old TV shows commercials and all. I know the guys and gals will love it! It felt completely weird to be on the receiving end of two priority boxes these week though...lolI also received money from @TerriLPN on Twitter, Ally, T, two anonymous donors and Red. (more on the Crockpot project later today)
I am so not ready to put a a complete list of folks who bought a toaster or a crock pot or both or who sent money.
Woohoo! not only did we find crock pots-- I found crockpots that also roast, slow cook, bake, steam and reheat. They aren't breakable, slightly lighter and offer a lot more versatility. 
these little kismity moments. From the fluke of finding better than we need for less than I planned to Tony being able to get them all into that trunk, I was high for hours. Even cooler, Sharon, the lady in the picture with Tony, said to come in today and see if they can gather up the toasters for us, too. She was happy to help our Marines she said. 
