ALL CHOKED UP AND PROUD

A few days ago I had the privilege of getting to watch some of our Navy ships come into port. For the past several months, the harbor has been pretty empty. I love to go down to our beach and ship watch and business has been really slow. I had notice that this was going to be a aircraft carrier group, which is always a sight to see and rarely do we get the privilege here. Maybe two or three times a year.
I got there just in time to see her smaller ships come in first. One that was stationed here had been gone for 7 months. She was all decked out and had the biggest American Flag flying from her. She was ready for home and family. She had been sitting just off the coast overnight, needless to say a real tease for the families. Her sailors were all topside and in their finest whites, standing at attention. One after one they came.
Then suddenly across the horizen, there she came, WOW, that is all that I can say. She is big and she is beautiful. Her helicopters were running constant patrol and the Coast Guard was right there also. Harbor Patrol was at it's highest attention. I followed her progress and the audience grew as people were catching sight of her from their windows at home and ran down to the beach. They have a saying here that says "It gives you Chicken Skin," and that is exactly how you can describe it.
Just as she got here in full view, there were all her sailors, standing at attention all the way around that huge ship. A few thousand of them with all their aircraft on display.
If you can stand there at a very close range like I was and see all those fine young men and women standing proud and in their dress whites and don't get choked up, well, then, I don't think you have a heart.
I have been blessed again to witness such a sight. Everyone was waving their arms to welcome them. Some were sneaking waves back.
I admit, I am a softie when it comes to the military and the Navy especially. My dad was here during the war on a sub and our son in law
is in the Navy, and out on world tour now, hopefully this will be a stop.
So when I hear anything negative about our servicemen, I take it very personally. We have the best in the world.

IT'S MY PARTY AND I WILL.......

Whee, so many years, so quick to go by. I finally caught up to my classmates, well, most of them. This year we hit the big 60 and we are lookin fine, ok, we are also doing just fine, thank you very much.
We seem to be looking, acting and feeling younger than the previous generation. I used to think 60 was old, but not anymore. They tell us it is the new 40 and I am going to go with that.
My friend from Japan told me this was a special birthday and the start of a new life. That we will have amazing brains and that red was our color as it means special celebration. So, again, I am going to go with that. I myself, bought a new red blouse.
When we were in school back in the good ole midwest, my birthday was always marked by a big campout in the yard with several girls. The boys would come and hang over the fence and visit for hours.
My birthday was always the start of the first day of football practice and the first day of squirrel season in Indiana. What a remembrance that was. At least the guys would remember me.
In the last few years, our class has reunited in several ways with each other and that has proven very healthy for us. With the regular class reunions, there have been mini reunions along the way and several more in the future planned. What a way to stay young.
We are taking trips and doing things that are very good for us. We are experiencing new things along with revisiting old ones. We are still trying to keep our brains active. I find that very important at this time in our lives.
We have been enjoying each other on our class blog and keeping in contact. We have had puzzles given to us and that has been fun to watch unfold.
So, if anyone has any doubts about reuniting with your class or hold memories of school that you want to forget, please reconsider. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how your classmates would love to see you. So, pick up that phone, send out the pigeon, fire up the smoke signal, plug in the email, and get back in contact with a class member and let's start this party.