Would I do it again after 19 yrs?

Anytime, Anywhere, in any Season,

& once again for the

EXACT same reason!!

with every fiber of my being...

I Love You.

cough, cough, sputter, sputter, AHEM!!!

Dang, It's dusty in here, but I'm getting geared up to do some updating. For the time being, just so you all don't think I've completely vanished, I want to share a couple thoughts that have really come to mean A LOT in the last few months,

"Oh ME of little Faith!!"

"The smallest good deed is

MUCH better

than the grandest good intention!!!"

Now, I'll get back to my "little" project, but hopefully, it won't be long until I can clear the spiderwebs out and start blogging with you all again!!

Hostess with the LEASTEST

Thankfully, our meal was very good, our server was very attentive and efficient and willing to make the few adjustments that we asked for. And in the end everything wound up being fine.
BECAUSE...
The hostess on duty, (06-19-07 @ 12:00pm) was extremely cold, most unfriendly and was an outwardly unhappy person. Definately NOT hostess or greeter material. I very much hope that something drastic had not just happened in her life because if so, she should have been at home dealing with that situaion instead of being the "first impression" for Ruby Tuesday. Seriously, we tried to give the benefit of the doubt, (maybe she was having a bad day, or her cat was sick, or something) but the longer we sat there and watched her roll her eyes at every request made by other customers, and noticed that she never once smiled, or acted as though she remembered that we diners were the ones providing her income, the more we felt that the situation needed to be addressed. I work with the public every day and I was taught that no matter how I feel, my customer should NEVER know it. Instead, the customer should feel welcome, and important, no matter the situation!!

Just thought you should know!!!

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK/PLANT

Just wanted you to meet the 5 newest residents at the camp:
Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo,
and
Jeffery

These guys are baby Praying Mantis' and they are soooo cute. I saved them from certain death in the "back room" & moved them to their new home on my sweet potato plant. I have NO idea what they eat, but with my luck they HATE sweet potato's, but I have a feeling that they are more likey carnivorous than not, so maybe they can find plenty of "no-see-ums" in the dirt around the plant.

THE NURSERY

See how small & defenseless they are

(that's Meeny I think)

LOOK!!! There's Jeffery

That's 2 of them...,
there WERE 5 of them yesterday...,

HMMM???...
did I mention that I think they might be
Carnivorous?

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I PUT THAT RECEIPT???

I’m thinking about seeing if I can exchange the new Security Guard for a different model.

Ya wanna know why? Let me start by saying, I am by no means an expert at this, but I’ve been working with dogs for a couple years now, with some success. However, I think I must have done something dreadfully wrong with this one. Oh, he’s cute as all get out and ton’s of fun at times, but something seems to have gone really wrong with his circuitry.

In the last couple weeks, I’ve seen THAT look in the eyes of my 4 month old security guard. It’s the one that says “I’m looking at you and I see your mouth moving, and I know you’re wanting something, but all I hear is BLAH-Blah-blahblahblah-BLAH” I’ve been staying up beat and happy and trying different things and EVERY now and then I see a spark and I think I’m onto something, and we finish our session and all is well. But then the other day, THAT look took over again and wouldn’t go away. SOOOO, I mentally hit rewind and listened to the recording of what to do in instances like this…

“When training, it’s very important to be consistent, gentle but firm, and keep the sessions short and happy so as to avoid burn out. When you do reach a point where it seems as if the student’s mind might be wandering and he quits paying attention, then you want to either quit the training session completely, or, as another trainer puts it, “wipe the chalk board clean” by changing tactics.” (As you can tell from the reference to a Chalk Board, the other trainer has been at this a LONG time, so I trust her completely and I always try to keep her advice in mind.)

… and I decided it was time to wipe the chalkboard clean…

Here’s the problem, MY security guard is obviously NOT a “chalkboard” model. Instead, he must be one of these new fangled “computer” models. And instead of simply wiping the chalkboard clean, I must have hit CONTROL –ALT- DELETE and ESC at the same time, because I think I saw a puff of smoke, and now, instead of the cute, fuzzy, smart, interested puppy I used to have…

… there is a tall, gangly being who is all legs, big feet, floppy ears, lolling tongue and drool. And whose only interests seem to be food, fast moving objects, chewing on things, playing with balls, licking himself and humping…

OH CRAP!!!...

I’ve got a (gasp!!!) 13 yr old boy…


NOW WHERE’S THAT RECEIPT?...

What a shower!!

01/14/2007

Jiro's Puppy Shower!!

On the way to the paaarteeeee!!

Alpo - (aka: chili) & Treats appropriately served in Doggie Dishes

Puppy Cakes, Puppies and People

Puppy & the GANG!! Only TRUE friends throw Puppy Showers!!

One tired Pooch who was thoroughly showered!!

IF, as they say, a picture is worth a THOUSAND words,

then here are 10 thousand words to show what wonderful friends

I'm blessed to have and to say...

THANKS 10 THOUSAND!!

There's a new TOSA in town

Meet JIRO,

the new SECURITY GUARD

@ Camp WHATTALOTTALOVIN

After loosing our beloved security guard Niko back in March of 2006, and after interviewing possible candidates from around the world, (literally), on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006, were finally able to fill the position with this ferocious predator named Jiro.

Beware!!

Anyone who visits the camp may be in danger of melting due to excessive licking and/or suffer bruises dealt by a viciously wagging tail!!

New Camper!!

Meet RL's Kurosinju Jiro-chan

"JIRO"

Born 10-02-2006

1 of a 13 puppy litter, and yet he's definately ONE of a kind

Black with a white front left paw, white toes on left rear paw

Arrived at his new home on 11-22-06

11lbs at first weigh in after we got him

Jiro w/Ma and big Sis

and there's Jiro w/Pa (aka: the counselor)

Puppy Paradise thanks to Sis

First Gator ride. He loved it!!

Colton's sure to be one of his biggest buds!!

Jiro w/big Sis

Whether he came as a Late Birthday or Early Christmas & I'm full of THANKS-giving!!! The camp is soooo happy to finally have him home.

Thanksgiving Forever!

****************

Our Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day and for the glorious abundance of Blessings that you continue to shower upon me and those I love. Thank you for the amazing husband you have blessed me to share my life with. Please watch over him and protect him from all harm. I am so thankful for the home I live in, my job, my boss, and my dog. I thank you for the life you have allowed me to live, and pray that it will continue.

I thank you above all else for the gift of your Son. For the Peace, the Comfort and the Joy that comes from knowing that, because of HIS sacrifice, if it be your will, I have the hope of a place in heaven someday.

I beg for your forgiveness of my innumerable sins, and I ask that, in spite of those sins and shortcomings, you continue to show your mercy and love towards me.

Please be with all those for whom I should pray. I ask that you be with my families, both genetic relatives and heart relatives and please be with my friends. Please watch over those who are sick and those who are grieving. Give them comfort and consolation in the knowledge that all will be well because, in the end, you are in charge. Be with the leaders of our country, especially our president and be with our military and her leaders. Give them wisdom to make the decisions that are most glorifying to your name, and then give them the strength and courage to stand up for and fight, if necessary, for those decisions. Be with your children who are away from home. Wherever they may be, please guard them and bring them back as safely and swiftly as possible.

I ask that you be with me Lord, please guide, guard and direct, my thoughts, words and deeds. Please give me the hope of being a better person someday.

I trust with every fiber of my being that you will continue to care for me and my loved ones and supply our needs, and for that I am eternally grateful. I ask that you also continue to consider our wants and desires and bless us with those things, material and immaterial, that make our lives so easy and so much fun.

Finally, Lord, I ask that you go on with us through life. Again, please forgive me of my sins, and at last in heaven receive us.

All these things I beg, in Jesus’ name and for his dear sake.

Amen.

GIFTS, GAB, & GUILT!!!!

What more could a girl ask for on her Birthday?

The Gifts - The day started out with me finding my annual Birthday Bear, from the counselor, sitting on my pillow. I also got a purse by Vera Bradley and a Red one by Tommy Hilfiger. And then the Ultimate Gift was the Hardbound, Boxed set of the complete works of Gary Larson’s FAR SIDE COMICS. Unbelievable!!

The Gab - And then it was off to work, where my day was broken up several times with phone calls from friends and family, including “alphabet” the soldier boy, and Jac. Some of them usually only correspond by e-mail, so it was such a pleasure to not only have them remember the day, but it was wonderful to just get to chat with friends and do a little catching up!! Then on the evening of my birthday, while having a coffee with the counselor, I got a sweet, sweet call from my niece and one of my nephews. It was “Happy Birthday to you…” complete with “Deeear Aunt Lenkaaaaa”. It was spectacular. I made the sister, who also put her good wishes in, call back and have them do it again on my voicemail so I could keep it.

And then…, AND THEN…

The Guilt – the other sister, (and I totally believe her) thought about calling earlier in the day, but it was too early to call me, so she wound up forgetting until the next day. So when she called me I could tell that she was riddled with guilt and remorse, and even though I assured her that it was the though that counts, she must have wallowed all day long until she came up with the PERFECT restitution: A PUBLIC APOLOGY, complete with an irresistible picture of the nephew!! And it worked. She’s forgiven forever!!

Yep, I’m one lucky gal to be so loved. And I want to just say Thanks to you all and I LOVE YOU back!! Ya’ll don’t forget next year now, ya hear?!!!

Casting Stones, Casting Votes, Casting Pearls before swine... what's the difference?

...but I did it anyway!!!

I can honestly say that I have very little idea of WHAT I voted for, or even WHO I voted for. I tried, HONESTLY, I tried to sift through the trash talk and the dirty politics and the mud slinging. Even endured two candidates using CANCER as a political power play. It's total limbo in more ways than one. Not only do the voters just get hung out there with no sure direction to take and no real place to go to, but the candidate's theme song seems to be "how low can you go?"

...but I did it anyway!!!

I think that throughout this whole campaining/election/voting process, I came away with only two real pearls of wisdom and they are:

1. Voting is like picking your favorite mosquito out of the swarm
2. If voting REALLY worked, the government would have made it illegal a long time ago.

...but I did it anyway!!!

I decided that if nothing else, I needed to step up and exercise my civic duty. I considered it a way of "preserving my right to gripe"!!

...so I did it anyway, and I all in all, I feel pretty good about having done it.

I'M FALLING, I'M FALLING...

... Because I have absolutley NOTHING of any REAL importance to share. I thought I would at least show you the "fruits" or "vegetables" of my labor's here at the office.




Here's my Radio Flyer Wagon with a color-fall dress on.

A Bowl 'O' Apples

And the "stalk-er" at the Entrance!!









I LOVE this time of year!!!
Thank goodness, I have a GREAT job, and get to enjoy it!!

The (heart) Beat goes on!!

09-23-1988 to Forever

******

18 years of wedded bliss

a little of that and a little of this

lots of laughter, a few sad tears

that's to be expected after all these years

precious memories, some pushin and shovin'

but through it all, and above all else...

Whattalottaluvin!!!

******

I celebrate, My Friend, My Love, My Life. I celebrate us!!

Here's to the rest of Happily Ever After.

Perspective!! ... from a boy who loved a dog.

One of our favorite campers is a young boy named Colton. Colton has a rare form of cancer that was discovered when a tumor was found on his brain stem. Colton was 9 at the time, and has gone through untold miseries, pain and sickness throughout the last 2 years, but at this time, he is doing very well and there seems to be every reason to hope that the cancer has been beaten. Hopefully for good! Colton is an ordinary boy who has been through some extaordinary circumstances. And while he's just a kid,most of the time , every once in a while he'll say something that goes straight to my heart, really opens my eyes & gives life some perspective.

First, a little background:
We met Colton after his cancer had been diagnosed and was already undergoing extreme treatments, so our initial meetings were with a weak, sickly, boy whose body was ravaged not only by the cancer, but by the brutal treatments required to deal with this horrid disease. In spite of all that, his smile was bright and his dimples would just pop out at you whenever he found something that made him happy. One of the things that seemed to make him the happiest was the friend he found in our dog Niko. Niko was a huge red dog, who seemed to instinctually understand that Colton was an extremely special someone who needed to be loved and protected. There was no gradual "getting to know you" phase. There was an instant, un-conditional bond. The friendship just was. Throughout Colton's treatments, and up until Niko died, these two were the best of friends. Many times when Colton was too weak or too depressed to even want to try to get out of bed, I could take Niko to the house, and either Colton would drag that frail little body out of bed, or Niko would jump up and they would just sit there together. Colton drew strength from Niko, and Niko loved him back unconditionally. Niko, was a very active dog who loved to play, and when there were other kids around, he would run off to roughhouse and play hard with them. But if Colton was there, you could be sure that every few minutes, Niko would stop in the middle of whatever he was doing and go to Colton and sit with him for a minute or two just to be sure he was ok. And then when the tables were turned and it was Niko who was in need and dying, (ironically, from cancer) Colton seemed to know that his buddy was sick and came to be with him and return that love and support. Just two days before Niko died, Colton sat on the floor where Niko was lying and just petted that big head and talked to him. You could literally see Niko relax and then, he just layed there and soaked up the love. It was quite simply, a beautiful thing to behold, and I feel honored and blessed to have been a part of it.

Colton took it quite hard when Niko died (and believe me, he wasn't the only one). One day not too long afterwards, Colton was sitting in my office and we were just talking about things in general when the following conversation occured:

"Hey Lenka?"
"Yea Colton?"
"How long have you worked for PawPaw?"
"A little over 3 yrs."
"How come I haven't known you that long?"
"Well, because I didn't ever get to meet you until after you got cancer, and that's only been 2 yrs ago."
"I met Niko at the same time didn't I?"
"Uh-huh."
"We really had some good times with Niko didn't we?"
"We sure did, even though most of the time you were so sick"
"Yeah, but since I've had cancer, I met you, and I met Niko, and I met all those great Doctors, and I'm getting better. You know, when I think about it, some of the best things that have ever happened to me in my life, happened after I got cancer..."

...then we went back to talking about general boy stuff, and I doubt that Colton ever gave the converstation another thought. I, on the other hand have thought about that conversation more times than I can count. To think that someone who has been through so much horrible stuff in his 12 short years, can look back at it and still see the best things in his life, well...,

That's Perspective!!

Meet CHUCK!!

Chuck is the Camp Fish.

And I want to see if I can get a picture onto my blog.

DEAR DEAR SANTA,

... and SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS.... I have found the ultimate, quintessential, perfect, most wonderful, Christmas gift of all time!! Especially for a SEMADENI!! Are you ready for this? Books.A.Million now has the COMPLETE (1980-1994), HARD BOUND, TWO VOLUME collection of the FAR SIDE COMICS. My life, or at least my library, would be almost complete if this amazing reading collection, found its way down my chimney and under my tree. However, in order to be able to afford it, Someone either needs to get Jacq's secret to having the folks support her, or get reeeaaly cozy with Santa. I intend to do both as well as cook a couple of nice meals for the counselor and buy a bunch of lottery tickets AND learn to dance. BUT, as a consolation, I would be willing to consider accepting the "special collection" Far Side desk calendar.

** Disclaimer **
Please remember that this is MY Blog, so the entries herein can in no way be misconstrued as being hints or begging, subtle or otherwise. However…?

YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!!

I bought a watermelon yesterday. And then I cut it open and...

I ONLY SAVED THE HEART!!!

I didn't even try to eat all the red part of it. And I most definately didn't let anything with even the slightest hint of green get close to my mouth!! And then...

I THREW THE REST AWAY!!!!

There are no Watermelon rind preserves, or pickles. And I didn't even consider buying a package of strawberry flavored jello to make fake "strawberry" jelly out of the ground up leftovers.

Next, I'm going to throw out the bacon grease, AND I've also decided not to keep the Salad dressing bottle with 1/2 tsp of dressing left in it.

YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!!!

(sigh!!) I love being a GROWN-UP!!

Elbow deep in Avacado & the key won't open the door!!

In other words: Lot's of Guac but no Unlock!!!
(Sorry about the phone calls that got missed on Saturday!!)

I had one of those days. Nothing seemed to work correctly. When I realized, AFTER we were in public that the socks were on inside out, well one of them anyway, I knew it was just going to be ONE OF THOSE DAYS. Nothing major, just little crap that seems to rise up and laugh in my face. I won't go into the little details, but it really started going bad when we were ready to leave to go listen to a friend play at the coffee shop. I've been wanting hear her forever, but as we were leaving, We decided to see if the new key that we had cut would work in the Front door. Did it? Nuh-uh, nope, of course not. In fact, the Deadbolt lock on the front door decided to break rather than accept the new key. Who EVER heard of a Deadbolt breaking? Well it did and do you know what's inside a deadbolt lock? SPRINGS and PINS. LOTS AND LOTS of itsy bitsy teeney weeney springs and pins. So when it comes apart, they basically explode everywhere. This is where they got the concept for hand grenades.

Anyway, that meant that we couldn't possible leave the house for very long because we couldn't lock it securly against the evil elements. We left it long enough to go to Home Depot to buy another Dead Bolt. Hoping that we'd still have time to get to the concert. (It was a very informal affair so late wouldn't matter so much.) Great idea, but no dice. The guy at Home Depot had to call everyone else in the store so that they could put their heads together and decided just how to go about re-keying a deadbolt to fit our current keys. They finally came up with a solution, and we headed back home.

This lock was a "Quick Set" brand lock. Which would lead one to believe that it would be "quickly set" into the door, right? Well... NO. So we didn't get to go to the concert.

By this time we were both hungry, so while the Counselor worked on the lock, Amid expletive ambiance, I decided to make us a sandwich. Turkey, Fresh tomato, avacado and a little mayo, with chips and a coke. How hard is that? Well let me tell you how hard that is...

1. peel the tomato - DONE
2. spread mayo on bread - DONE
3. fit round slices of Turkey on square bread - .... done?
4. cut avacado in half - DONE
5. CHASE THE STUPID AVACADO SEED around the kitchen floor for 5 minutes. - DONE
6. place avacado and tomato slices on turkey - DONE
7. Put top slice of bread on sandwich - DONE
8. Pick up Sandwich to place it on plate with Chips - ... crap!!!
9. pick up slippery slices of avacado & tomato that slid out of sandwich & fell on floor - (!*&^%) - done
10. realize that nothing's going to stay together without toothpicks or hot glue. - dang
11. have bright idea - DONE
12. Mash the stupid avacado into a paste with a little more mayo.

This is the moment in time when my phone started ringing incessantly. One call after another, but since my hands are covered in tomato and avacado guts, I can't do anything about it. So as the individual ring tones played, I knew EXACTLY whose call I was missing, and I just sobbed into my make shift quacamole.

After pulling myself together, and creating a wonderful "Turkey, tomatoe, & avacado sandwich" casserole, the Counselor comes in and annouces, "whew, got it!! I think it's going to work. Let's try the new key now." So we did!! And... It didn't work!!!

Yep, Lot's of Guac but no UN-lock!! Not a great place to be!!!

It Finally Happened…

…and I knew it would. Of course, knowing it would happen doesn’t make me feel one bit better about it, but at least now it’s over.

They finally killed the puppy!! You heard me. Yesterday morning on the way in to work there it was, all brown, cute, fluffy and DEAD!! Hit by a car I’m sure. And there sitting beside it in the road ignoring her own probability of danger, was it’s mother, nudging and prodding it with her nose to try and get it to wake up and get out of that dangerous road.

No, I didn’t stop. There was nothing I could do. The puppy was beyond help and I have no idea who the momma dog belonged to, and moving her would have been completely futile. She’d just go back to the tragedy, so I kept going. And Yes, I cried a little and then the further I went, the madder I got, and the madder I got, the more I realized that I’ve just got to get this out of my system…

Soap box puh-lease… (chunk chunk... step up, one, two)

STUPID PEOPLE!!!
And I’m not talking about the driver of the vehicle either. It’s the OWNERS of that puppy who are to blame here. Where is the sense of responsibility?
I don’t know why people will get a cute fuzzy puppy and then won’t take care of it. Any halfway intelligent person should know that a puppy is going to GROW UP, and that it can’t FEED or WATER ITSELF. It has no concept of BOUNDERIES and will get its much needed EXERCISE by roaming if someone won’t provide for it. And funny thing about animals, they MULTIPLY. It’s just the way nature is.

(Now, let me say that I understand that Accidents DO happen, even in the best of circumstances but, in the vast majority of cases it's total lack of HUMAN responsibility that causes these tragedies)

Why is it OK to just let your dog roam around and be in danger from things that it has no concept of how to deal with? Not to mention the fact that it seems to be ok to let your dog wander onto another person’s property and make messes and aggravate that person’s dogs, and possibly even his family. And then when, through no fault of its own, the dog gets in trouble or does something that it shouldn’t, or goes somewhere it’s not familiar, it’s the dog that usually pays the ultimate price. If it gets in the road it’ll eventually be hit by a car. If it gets into someone’s garbage, it’ll get shot at. If, heaven forbid, it hurts someone, it is likely to be put to sleep. If it gets pregnant, then the puppies, which didn’t ask to be born, are either killed, dropped off somewhere out in the country to starve, or given to yet another irresponsible home and left to fend for themselves in the same vicious circle as the parents.

If a person chooses to take on the responsibility of having a dog, or any pet for that matter, that person should also accept the responsibility to COMPLETELY provide for that animal’s protection, health and happiness.

1. Keep the dog in a decent sized FENCED, (no chains), yard so that it can move freely but still be contained for its own safety.
2. Provide proper nutrition, water & food, on a regular basis
3. Provide an opportunity for ample exercise
4. Provide a regular opportunity for that dog to have some real interaction with its family. They NEED to be loved and needed
5. If you’re not interested in PROPERLY taking on the additional responsibility of having offspring from your dog, get it SPAYED OR NEUTERED.

Otherwise, you don’t need and shouldn’t have a dog!!

You can take my soap box now. (step down, one, two)

Thankfully, by the time I came home, someone had scooped that poor little puppy up off the road so I didn’t have to see it. (literally anyway, it’s still pretty vivid in my mind). And of course its Momma was out again this morning wandering the road…

STUPID PEOPLE!!

HOOAH!!!

I just got back from the Fort Knox Army base in Kentucky, where I got to watch my little brother graduate from the Reserve Officers Training Camp. To my surprise, what I anticipated as being a “yada yada yada” type event, turned out to be, in fact, a truly moving experience and I came away with an enlightened opinion of my Country, her Soldiers, and my little brother.

Pride is not always thought of as the best of feelings. Pride is often thought of as being an egotistic and power hungry love of ones self. The phrases “Pride goeth before a fall” and “ stubborn pride” come to mind. But in this case, I think that Pride is one of the best feelings a person can carry. In this situation, when I say I’m PROUD to be an American, and I’m PROUD of our soldiers, and I’m PROUD of my brother, the word holds so many more meanings. For instance:

GRATITUDE
I’m thankful for the men and women who have already chosen to be in the Army and who are so sure that it’s the right choice that they are willing to help train and nurture and protect these youngsters who are just starting the journey. I was so impressed to see those seasoned men and women watching over their charges like mother hens. Don’t get me wrong, they were rough and tough, but you could just feel the compassion and desire to instill in these kids the concepts of Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Honor, Personal Courage, Selfless Service, and integrity and make them into heroes. With guidance like that, I don’t think there’s too much worry about.

I’m grateful for the blessings that God has showered upon us by allowing us to live in a Nation where we can feel safe in our individualities. I’m grateful for the men and women from countless years gone by who have had the courage to stand up and fight for Right and Good, even when it wasn’t the most popular opinion. I’m grateful for the sacrifices that have been willingly made in order to fight that fight. Some give up precious moments with families, such as births, and school plays, and quality time. Some make financial sacrifices to make sure that the fight can continue. And way too many have made the ultimate sacrifice and given their lives so that we can live in comfort and peace. For that, my gratitude is boundless.


FEAR
I fear that those who have grown to take our freedom for granted, who feel that freedom is their right, or those who are in positions of power, and are more consumed with matters of wealth and popularity than with the well being of our country, will someday be able to lure the people of our country into believing that freedom is indeed free. Which will in turn surround us with a false sense of security that says all we have to do is sit back and practice tolerance and all will be well. Then, when our morals are crushed, our ethics destroyed, and our entire way of life threatened, my greatest fear is that it might very well be my brother who makes that ultimate sacrifice with his life.

HOPE
Because as I watched the ceremonies, and the people involved, I realized that all “kids these days” are not clueless, helpless and hopeless. I saw approximately 225 young men and women who, even though they may not all continue to follow the Army path, are obviously made of some real tough stuff. They purposely and willingly gave their time and effort to complete this training. They made it through grueling physical and mental exercises and sleep deprivation. They gave up creature comforts such as TV, cell phones, ipods, and real beds. They ate MRE’s and Army food. All this was done with the full knowledge that should they choose to continue with the Army, their next training sessions and challenges will most likely be even more difficult.

And yet, as the Cadets from Alpha Company stood on that Fort Knox field under crystal blue clear skies, on what had to be one of the most gorgeous days ever, and even though there were no smiles during the ceremony, their eyes were sparkling, and their posture was straight to the point of statuesque. Their movements were sharp and precisely placed. They exuded such strength, confidence and anticipation and they seemed comfortable and at peace with the decision to become a part of this Army.

I have always considered myself to be patriotic, and appreciative of this country in which we’re blessed to live. I have always stood with my hand over my heart for the National Anthem, and have always maintained that the pledge of allegiance should remain an integral part of our school systems. I’ve always understood and appreciated the sacrifice our soldiers have made throughout the years so that we may enjoy a freedom unknown to others outside these United States of America. And I have always been disappointed that so many of my fellow Americans seem to take that blessing so lightly. Yes, I have always thought that I knew what it meant to be “ Proud to be an American”.

However, after this visit and after having seen the men and women who are in training to become the soldiers that secure our freedoms, and after having seen the men and women who are providing the training for our incoming soldiers, I must say, in the words of
the Mad Dogs of Alpha Company, 4th Platoon, 2nd squad,

Am I proud to be an American? “HELL YEA!!!”
Am I proud of the United States Army? “HELL YEA!!!”
Am I proud of my little brother? “HELL YEA!!!”

HOOAH SOLDIER BRO’!! I love you man!!