It's American Thanksgiving today; Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!
I've been in Ottawa for 13 years, and there hasn't been one of them that I didn't wish to be on my couch, in my jammies, basting turkey, drinking coffee and watching the parade. Let alone planning the day of attack tomorrow. Although to be fair, that's mostly started in the years I've been here.
In true Thanksgiving kitsch, let me now enumerate for you my thankful fors:
1. I am thankful for the safe arrival of Miss Isabella Rosa Brandt, born on November 21 at 9lbs to my LittleSister, Mrs. Mindy Dallas.
2. I am also very thankful for the safe arrival of Mrs. Mindy Dallas' milk, a few days later. Heh.
3. I am thankful that I got to spend an evening with one of my very longest standing friends - may even beat Ms. Katie B. (to whom I know I owe a call and promise is forthcoming) - it's very lucky when a childhood family friendship can grow out of childhood and loosen itself from all of its baggage by herks and jerks and arrive at something greater and more honest than one can imagine. I'm thankful for that too, and for training in the Capital Region.
4. I am thankful for my family, and my children, and for the fact that I have a job that I can call in to, and a husband who tells me to, when they are causing me to suffer from exhaustion. Seriously. (But I'm feeling better now, and promise to pay attention to my bed time - it's a rule, not a guideline.)
5. I am thankful for Janey, and the Ms. Gs, who have stuck with me for never ending conversations of self-doubt and recriminations - and still, I hope, love me as much as I love them.
6. In the past few weeks, mostly as a result of the anticipated arrival of Isabella, we have been discussing the possible routes a baby might take when exiting from a mama's tummy. Possible routes put forward? 2. Out of your 'privates, or out of your head.' Tempting, right? I mean, I KNOW. So we had a bit of the talk. So far, no questions about how babies get in. So I'm very, very thankful for THAT.
7. I am thankful for the very fabulous literacy talents of Dr. Watson.
8. I'm thankful for YOU, dear readers, whoever you are.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Remembrances
Growing up the daughter of a once upon a time Marine Corps Officer in teensy town America leads to several facts of life.
One: It is difficult not to be imprinted on the military man - uniforms are all around you, and they look good. Early remembrances of my father include seeing him march as a veteran in the Memorial Day parade in our little village, I suppose you'd call it - a little place with several hundred folk living there and a war memorial with at least a quarter of their names on it - two little general stores, a legion, a Masonic lodge, and a church - too small, even, for a school. The men folk wore their uniforms, or the parts of it that still fit - grandpas, uncles, dads, and brothers home on leave, they marched together on a hot day in May and at the end, we'd all gather in the park for popsicles - me in my girl scout's uniform having just marched myself. He wore his medals, and to this day, I don't know what they all meant. I do know, however, how very, very proud he was to find (late in the day) that he was a Nobel prize laureate - a number of years ago, the UN Forces in Korea won - and, as a US Marine, he was a member of that force.
Two: The military in the US is one of the only ways out of a small town. If your folks couldn't afford university, and many couldn't, it was what a guy did. Fresh out of high school, they'd enlist, get on the job training and possibly go to school after the 3 year enlistment with the money they'd accumulated as part of the GI bill.Military staff and service are just all around you - it is a part of everyone's lives. High school sweetheart? Now Lt. Colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers. Big Brother? Did at least 10 years in the Navy, and came out with the professional training that is still serving him today as a fire marshal.
Having imprinted early on and spent the grad school years in Tidewater Virginia, I crossed paths with a number of servicemen. And so to all of you - submarine operators, fighter pilots, Hughie mechanics, engineers, infantrymen and fire fighters, I say thank you.
My thoughts are with you all today, and I'm hoping that wherever you are, you are safe and have clean sheets to lay your head on tonight. And if you don't have clean sheets, then I hope you've got some clean, dry socks.
Wear your gear and keep your fuzzy heads safe.
Semper Fi, and pax.
One: It is difficult not to be imprinted on the military man - uniforms are all around you, and they look good. Early remembrances of my father include seeing him march as a veteran in the Memorial Day parade in our little village, I suppose you'd call it - a little place with several hundred folk living there and a war memorial with at least a quarter of their names on it - two little general stores, a legion, a Masonic lodge, and a church - too small, even, for a school. The men folk wore their uniforms, or the parts of it that still fit - grandpas, uncles, dads, and brothers home on leave, they marched together on a hot day in May and at the end, we'd all gather in the park for popsicles - me in my girl scout's uniform having just marched myself. He wore his medals, and to this day, I don't know what they all meant. I do know, however, how very, very proud he was to find (late in the day) that he was a Nobel prize laureate - a number of years ago, the UN Forces in Korea won - and, as a US Marine, he was a member of that force.
Two: The military in the US is one of the only ways out of a small town. If your folks couldn't afford university, and many couldn't, it was what a guy did. Fresh out of high school, they'd enlist, get on the job training and possibly go to school after the 3 year enlistment with the money they'd accumulated as part of the GI bill.Military staff and service are just all around you - it is a part of everyone's lives. High school sweetheart? Now Lt. Colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers. Big Brother? Did at least 10 years in the Navy, and came out with the professional training that is still serving him today as a fire marshal.
Having imprinted early on and spent the grad school years in Tidewater Virginia, I crossed paths with a number of servicemen. And so to all of you - submarine operators, fighter pilots, Hughie mechanics, engineers, infantrymen and fire fighters, I say thank you.
My thoughts are with you all today, and I'm hoping that wherever you are, you are safe and have clean sheets to lay your head on tonight. And if you don't have clean sheets, then I hope you've got some clean, dry socks.
Wear your gear and keep your fuzzy heads safe.
Semper Fi, and pax.
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