I found this today and thought it was worth sharing since it affected my life so greatly at the time. I wrote this for Bonsall Woman's Club as their spiritual values person at the one year anniversary of 9/11.
"Not so long ago there was a woman named Cheryl, as I am, and she lived here in Fallbrook. She had children in school at Fallbrook High School and Sullivan Middle School as I do, and they even had similar classes with my children.
Her son was in Boy Scouts and in the same troop as my sons.
Her husband put on the same uniform to go to work as my husband does. They were both pilots for American Airlines.
But for the grace of God this is where our lives separate.
On September 11, 2001 that Cheryl's husband put on his uniform and kissed her goodbye for the last time. Not a day goes by that she doesn't miss everything about him.
I am the lucky Cheryl this time and my husband is still here to put his arms around me.
In honor of her husband please.....
Dream what you want to dream; Go where you want to go; Be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do."
Rande's eagle project was a memorial to Tom McGuiness and we have never been more proud of him.
I know its not much but I hope people walk by and think of Tom because he deserves to be remembered.
Speaking of which...I have been absolutely dying inside to share this and most of all to 'present' it to Jerry. I decided our anniversary was the perfect time and most of all because I could not keep it inside me any longer.
Palm Springs has the coolest Air Museum dedicated to the people that have served in our wars and the history behind them. They have so many artifacts from the past its definitely worth a trip. On our last visit they have a memorial to members that have earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and you may buy a brick to honor or remember someone. Jerry happened to mention he has the medal which was a big surprise to me since we dont really talk about Vietnam together. Well I decided that my man should be honored as well and went about the business of finding out information and how to make it happen.
Pretty awesome huh?!? I am so proud of him and think every single person that served during Vietnam deserves to be honored as well. They came home beaten and changed and were treated so badly by their own country for doing a job most did not want to do. I was so excited to share this with my man but honestly I couldn't tell how he felt about it. Maybe its part of his past and suppose to be forgotten...I dont know but I am still glad I did it. He was and is an amazing pilot and deserves to be honored.
On a lighter note I would like to give a shout out to Timothy for hooking up our stereo system. I have been without for so long I simply forgot I could fire it up. Seriously the cd player had a Christmas cd in it from forever ago! I came across Adele and decided she needed to liven this place up and that she did. As with everything I do lately~ I think I now need to get new speakers. She wasn't that loud honestly but one of them is crackling now. Darn it!
Jerry and I have had a reality check as we unpack and I do not know why we keep so many silly items from our boys. I came across the ghost costume Timothy wore his first halloween, the bus tag Kyle wore to kindergarten so they could return him at the end of the day, and dont get me started on all the things of Rande's. Not only do we hang on so does he so there is a lifetime of memories in boxes. The only thing we could come up with for our memory lane treasures is our life as a family with our boys was the best journey ever and each and every item brings it back to us. We have been blessed to have all three boys comment this summer what great parents we were and how much they appreciated the way we raised them. Doesn't get any better than that!
Thanks for dropping by.
What a wonderful tribute! Both the one Rande did and the one you did. I love keeping up with you through the blog, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeletexoxo