"To All a Good Night"

T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,

HE LIVED ALL ALONE,

IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE,

 MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE.



I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY,

WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,

AND TO SEE JUST WHO,

IN THIS HOME, DID LIVE.



I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,

A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,

NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,

NOT EVEN A TREE.



NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,

JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,

ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES,

OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.



WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,

AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,

A SOBER THOUGHT,

CAME THROUGH MY MIND.



FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,

IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,

I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,

ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.



THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,

SILENT, ALONE,

CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR,

IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.



THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,

THE ROOM IN  DISORDER,

NOT HOW I PICTURED,

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER.



WAS THIS THE HERO,

OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?

CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,

THE FLOOR FOR A BED?



I REALIZED THE FAMILIES,

THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,

OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS,

WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.



SOON ROUND THE WORLD,

THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,

AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE,

A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.



THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM,

EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,

BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,

LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.



I COULDN'T HELP WONDER,

HOW MANY LAY ALONE,

ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE,

IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.



THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT,

A TEAR TO MY EYE,

I DROPPED TO MY KNEES,

AND STARTED TO CRY.



THE SOLDIER AWAKENED,

AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,

"SANTA DON'T CRY,

THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;



I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,

I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,

MY LIFE IS MY GOD,

MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."



THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,

AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,

I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,

I CONTINUED TO WEEP.



I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,

SO SILENT AND STILL,

AND WE BOTH SHIVERED,

FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.



I DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE,

ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,

THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR,

SO WILLING TO FIGHT.



THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,

WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,

WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,

IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."



ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,

 AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,

 AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT."

Ben deploys again at the end of February to Afghanistan. 

Why Dog's are Woman's best friend.

I am writing this blog to openly appreciate my dogs.  Though I may not praise them constantly from day to day, and so often I take them for granted, I truly love my dogs.  My good friend Jack(my five year old poodle) that I have raised from an eight week old pup embodies the meaning of loyalty.  He is my quiet shadow.  As I move from room to room he follows, his reserved and humble way just adds to his endearing manner.  He has been my loving companion through many triumphs, and countless grievances.  From when a love broke my heart, to deployments where he does his best to console and protect me while Ben is away.   He has adapted from situation to situation so easily.  When Jack and I adopted eachother I was seventeen.  I had only been back in America for two months.  I knew no one, barely even the family I now lived with who had not lived together since I was fourteen.  Now, here we are in our own new family with a baby he could have seen as a threat, yet he loves the things I love as his own.  He would protect any of us with all of his four pound life, for no reason other than his generous, calm loyalty.  My other poodle exemplifies her rich personality in one story:  This evening as I cried because Summer is teething and she has no quelms in screaming at her mother all day to alleviate the frustration, my Lady Josephine Penelope Bean who lacks any gentleness in her manor and is quite void of grace, dashes up to me and tries bouncing on my lap while carrying a tissue in her mouth!  Though, she did not see the tears and rush in with the tissue, her reckless self dictates that she was no doubt chewing on the tissue (since at eight years old she still chases everything and will chew on anything) and then seeing my distress rushed to my aid without remembering to first conceal her recent escapades (hency the timely tissue).  Therefore, I would like to take a moment and appreciate my dogs, and all dogs that share with us their constant love, loyalty, and lunacy.  Cheers to the doggies!  Woman's best friend.  I think that should God have made woman first, he would have then made the dog next.  :)

An Update

Well, things are chugging along here at home/Tampa/Miami.  Ben has been gone since the 8th in Los Vegas for two and a half weeks with the Air Force.  He is staying out of trouble, but still having fun.  I have been at my mom and dad's and down to see Brandon and Chrissy in Miami in his absence.  It has been wonderful having precious family time.  Summer has a little bit of a cold, but it takes more than that to bring her down (thankfully).  My scare with lumps has turned out very positive.  After an ultrasound revealed that they do not look concerning (what I thought was one turned into three),  I was sent home and will be rechecked in six months just to make sure.  HUGE PRAISE.  Also, my Grandma was given an 80% chance of having pancreatic cancer that had spread into her lungs which would have made it stage four, but thankfully she is in the 20% because does not have cancer.  However, she is in a great deal of pain and the doctors do not know what is wrong. 

CHRISTMAS IS COMING....well, you know soon.  I love Christmas I am very excited.  Halloween will be fun also, Summer will be going as a lamb, look for pictures on facebook. :)  That is about it. Much love to all who read this. 

Feeling Better...

After a few road blocks and a good teacher, I am finally confident in my parenting skills once again.  I will start by saying, a wonderful husband covers so many other problems.  Ben fixes everything.  I have realized the reason I don't live on coffee is because I have a natural energizer- two crazy poodles, a precious little baby, and a VERY understanding husband.  I will also say that hormones going back to normal after pregnancy is like PMS on crack.  From deep lows to soaring highs, for what seems like months.  However, right now I have been on a high for one and a half months.  So, things might be getting back to normal.  ;)  Despite a suspicious unidentified lump which is going to be examined next Thursday (please pray...) Well, I need to get back to cleaning my house since that is what Ben pays me for... :) Love to all!

Motherhood.