Blogs

Got the kid in the box last week with a letter that Cody wrote at the airport to remind us that this was just a short time and that we would see him soon and then today go his address so we can send letters.

my son Daniel a hospitalcorpsman has been at Sigonella NAS for alittle more than a month and sounds like he is adapting well. sending nice pictures of the scenery and meeting new people. just fining it hard to adapt to the time difference in order to talk to us. Now we are awaiting for our oldest boy to go into bootcamp in SanDiego for the marines. proud of both of them!

To All NavyDads members, I wrote this several years ago and I have read it each year since. I wanted to share it with you this year. I am amazed at how much I have received each Christmas, I have pictures of my sister and her doll and me with my cast iron race car under a Christmas Tree not more than 3 foot tall, sitting on a coffee table, which was a great Christmas concering it was taken in the mid-50’s. The story below happened not to long ago and it was a Great Christmas, I can not imagine it every getting better each year. Hope you enjoy this.

Well it is the day after Christmas, the house is quit, family has returned to their homes and it is time to reflect on how the day went and what lead up to this years Christmas.

Feb. 2008 GS joined the Navy. I was happy and concerned but it is what he wanted. He made it through BC and was off to Coronado. I joined NSC, N4M, and Navy Dads and met so many people and got questions answered about what was going to happen and why. I read Blogs from frogman80, I wrote Question on the Forums, I received answers and help on what I did not understand. Watched others take interest in what GS was doing and got explanations of why he was doing things. I guess that is the reason I began getting interested in others with Loved Ones in the Military.

I watched my daughter help round up someone to help out a Sailor who was stuck in a strange town and need help. I meet 2 Sailors at DFW airport as they had a lay-over enroute to their next school. My daughter adopted a Sailor in school in Ft. Worth and would not get to go home to the Northeast for Thanksgiving, the first one he would not have with his family. Christmas Holiday came and he was not going to get to go home for Christmas so he went back to my daughter’s home to stay and got off base. Christmas Eve Day her adopted Son got a call from his Mom who told him she had just received confirmation that his package had just been delivered to my daughters house and he should go get it now so she could be on the phone with him as he received it. He went to the front door and nothing was there, he looked around and then he saw him Mom standing in the driveway, a surprise. Christmas Eve night Jan had me cleaning and helping turn 15 pounds of ground beef in to Spaghetti sauce for lunch the next day.

Christmas has arrived; we were ready for what ever was to come. Jan's family drove down from Oklahoma (last time she saw her brother was last Christmas), our daughter and her crew arrived including Mom and Son. Mom and Son sat in the den and visited, they really did not know anyone. Then second daughter and crew came in followed by Grandkids and Great Grandkids. The party had started. Mom and Son met each one there and shook hand with everyone and returned to visiting each other. Next thing I know Son hijacked by Grandkids playing games, on the computer and in the yard with the dog he was having a good time. I looked for Mom. She was hijacked to the kitchen exchanging stories of their Christmas Traditions. Everyone including Mom had suggestion on how Jan should fix this, where to put that, this would be nice and of course Jan was not listening. Then everyone starting doing things getting salad ready, Jan making salad dressing, cooking the Spaghetti and setting the table. Everyone had something to do. The men will we were solving all the world problems, discussing the books we read, talked sports and talked about BUDs. Now Lunch is served and it got quite. That didn't last long, the kids wanted to open presents.

Santa had come and the little ones started opening presents, moms and dads made sure they opened the right ones, got the cards to know who got what from whom and kept the kids as calm as possible. Time for the adults. We drew names and had a small limit on the amount we would spend. Gifts were handed out and each person had to unwrap their gift and show it to everyone (model it, explain it and comment on it). Santa knew Mom and Son were there and not at home and they were included. I explained to Mom that I had hoped she didn't expect a nice, quite Christmas afternoon; I did this while everyone was quit and checking out their gifts.

Now it is time to say Goodbye. The first 7 left to get back to Oklahoma then one by one the Grand and Great Grand Kids left. Some adult visiting and everyone else was ready to leave. I remembered the hand shakes when Mom and Son arrived and noticed it had change to Hugs on the way out. I was ready to shake Moms hand but instead got a Big Hug, a small tear and a Thank You from her, she was now apart of our Family.

This was my 64th Christmas. I have seen pictures of the early ones and each seemed better than the one before. I remember most of the rest and each year was the best ever. After 64 of these events could they ever be better than the one before. The last Hug I got made me think next year cannot be any better that this, I guess we will have to wait and see.

I want to Thank all of the Great People I have meet this year for opening up a new world to me. I thought sending a card to a Sailor, supporting the Military and just being there for someone was enough, I was wrong. I have learned that I have a Family much larger than I ever knew out there and it is very easy for you to get really close to that family.

Hope your family has a Great Christmas and the Memories will last Forever. Now I can't wait for the next one.

My son Michael graduated at Great Lakes on 10/29/10 with division 823 and has just moved to NTC for his BUD/S prep that will last until about Feb 2011. PIR was awesome, it was so great to see him after being away from him for two months. He is only 19 and it is the first time in his whole life that he has been away from the family for more than a week or so. My wife, my daughter and my sister-in-law(Michael's Godmother) all went out to Great Lakes last weekend from our homes on the East coast. We had such a wonderful time and none of us would have missed it for the world. While at the graduation ceremony I saw an officer, or maybe he was a chief who was wearing a Trident on his dress blues. I noticed it from almost 100 feet away, and it stood out like it was the sun! I had to go over and say "Good morning" to him, he congratulated me on my son's graduation as I congratulated him on his son's as well. That meeting was one of the highlights of my time at Great Lakes because I knew in my mind what kind of person it takes to earn the right to wear a Trident on your chest, I was in awe of him and I know in my heart that my son Michael has that quality in him and I am certain that he will wear the Trident proudly in the near future. God Bless all of our sons who are on their way to become U.S NAVY SEALS and to all our sons and daughters for their military service to our country, no matter which branch they choose to serve.

Colorado sailor, so far from the sea,
No salt in the air or ocean to see.
It was good to stand on the bow underway,
In heavy seas with a face covered in salt spray.
To feel the wind blowing against your life vest,
Checking to be sure it is tight on your chest.
Turning your back on the onslaught of wind,
Facing aft at aircraft fighting off the din.
Watching young men in shirts of yellow, green, and blue,
Quite a rainbow for the old salt eyes to view.
And there were the red shirts at their fire station,
Praying there would not be a break in the operation.
Purple shirts scurrying about with fuel lines taut,
Giving airplanes a pure drink without any salt.
And flight deck safety would always come first,
Men in white shirts watching for a burst.
And up on the bridge the skipper watched intent,
Making sure the men were earning their free rent.
I was just one man, on that sea going city,
And now it is all done, what a sorrowful pity.
I served my country twenty wonderful years,
But when I think of it I burst into tears.
For men and women still go out to sea,
Keeping our nation as free as can be.
All I can do is remember the past,
And wish that it would just last and last.
God bless our sailors that stand tall in the wind,
Our country is the greatest and it will never end.
ROTRUCK - 2010

Daddy’s little girl!

I remember the day that she was born, daddy’s little baby girl! The moment that I saw her, my life was changed forever. God had answered my prayers for a baby girl, Lovely daughter is her name. As I did with my two sons, I made a promise to raise her and provide her with a safe home. I promised to teach her to know God and follow him in life. One day like a blink of an eye, my baby daughter turned 5 and went to school with her brothers, Ah! It was so awesome to watch them walking toward the bus stop and holding hand together and I could see that daddy’s little girl was growing up. Lovely daughter soon began to show physical changes and started middle school, she was becoming a teenager but in my heart she was still daddy’s little girl. One day I woke up and I saw this beautiful young woman, she gave me a goodbye kiss and asked me for my blessings and there she was Lovely daughter was getting ready for her first day in high school. I could not believe what came after, just a few years passed by and Lovely daughter was having her graduation ceremony from high school, she just turned another page of her life and she looked so beautiful!! It was then when I knew that the time was near. Every father’s fear was getting closer, the day when the children will spread their wings and leave the nest! Many things passes thru my mind, one of them, was she ready? Today, Lovely daughter is leaving for the U.S. Navy boot camp; my eyes are in tears because daddy’s little girl is now a grown up woman. I know my love for her has not change if anything, it’s has grown stronger and hers for me as well and I pray God to continue watching over her and guide her thru life and as for me, I say this to God, thank you father for the privilege, the joy and the honor to raise Lovely daughter, my beloved daughter and always “DADDYS LITTLE GIRL!”

I love you Lovely daughter and I'm proud of you..HOOYAH to you~ Dad

It is disheartening to read many papers these days and see how many of our kids (and grownups) are headed towrd the gutter. I pray often that WE, this Country will soon see the need to upgrade our backbones and our love of the US.

Is it possible?