Somebody's Son

I wasn't sure how to go about today's post. I never planned to discuss politics. And for the most part that is not where this will go but it might be in there so if any of this offends you, well, I'm sorry!

This is my "little" brother. He is currently deployed in Afghanistan. He just received a promotion and was made the spotlight for his platoon's Facebook page. They do that occasionally to keep loved ones updated on their soldiers. I could not be more proud of him!! He has truly forged a path for himself far different than any my family would have thought for him but he is making it his own and he is becoming such an amazing man. This post is about him and men and woman like him.

I will never know what it is like to be a soldier. I will never have to know because of people like him who willingly sign up to serve our country. So when, on the day that we have dropped him off to deploy, my mom happens to see a certain bumper sticker on the back of a car in the Cracker Barrel parking lot I may get somewhat offended.  I have seen many a bumper sticker with all kinds of differing opinions. I am all for them! We are all different, we all have our opinions and mine may not be the same as yours and I believe that is ok. We are a free country, formed on differences. However, when your bumper sticker reads "If you support the war, feel free to send your children to the front lines." I may feel a little hurt.  Especially to have my mother see that, on that day, was heartbreaking. She is a little more forth coming with her opinions than me, but on that day I don't think she even knew what to say. It had already been a morning of many tears. Her youngest child just went to the front lines and someones car is practically begging for him to go.

The army was never something discussed with Patrick. My parents were sure that he was going to end up playing golf, coaching golf, doing something golfish.  He is an amazing golfer (and now he is an amazing soldier).  They had tried to send my other brother to military school (the straighten your shiz out kind) but he only lasted a day. That was the last the military was really discussed with any form of connection to my brothers.

Patrick decided on his own that he was going to enlist. He had met a former marine and that is where his story began. Politics was never something very openly discussed in our home, we were allowed to form our own opinions. My parents backgrounds differed from each others in many ways and one side was never promoted or slandered.

When any person chooses to enlist, it is for reasons the resonate with them. Just because someones family may believe in the military and all it stands for doesn't mean that their child will automatically decide to enlist and just because they may not believe in it doesn't mean their child won't. At 18 we are all adults, all legally able to decide our own path in life. My brother chose his. I ask that you not diminish that decision. He is my brother, he is my parents son, he is a young man forming a life for himself and we as people should support that. I choose to stand behind him, not only because he chooses to stand in front but because he is my brother and I love him. If I could change your bumper sticker I would like to have it read, "Whether or not you support the war, that person on the front lines is someones son or daughter."

That man up there in the green will always be this kid to me. The boy who was my bud, the "baby" of the family and the one with a huge heart. He is the man who loves his nieces and nephew like nobody's business and the one who is becoming one of the best and strongest men I know. Please do not wish him harm! He is my brother.

Oh No She Didn't!

Hang in there folks, it's day 22 and I am getting a little feisty! 

When I first read through the list of topics and saw the one for today I cringed. I was thinking “I do not like to rant in public; I do not like to stir the waters.” However, Babe and his ears have heard me rant upon occasion. He suggested I share about my thoughts on taking babies places (because he has gotten ear fulls on some of that business).

I do not currently have children of my own but take claim too many.  Due to the fact that in many ways I already feel like I have had my first child (and then some) I will not be a very cautious first time 'can’t-take-my-baby-anywhere' mama. There are probably places I would be willing to take a baby that would make some new mothers pretty nervous. So when I think that there are certain places children just shouldn’t go I have good reason to believe it might be true that they don’t belong there.  Please, please do not take your newborn (and by newborn I mean umbilical cord and baby acne still not completely gone) to Wet n’ Wild (or any other comparable water park).  If you must (which I don’t see why you would and maybe you can explain to me) then please keep them out of the cesspool that is the lazy river! I don’t even feel that I should put myself in that nasty thing sometimes but I am grown (as in not under three weeks old) and therefore have a choice in said matter.  

I consider it a general rule of mine not to take babies/toddlers into any adult flicks, but I like to think parents know their children and can make their own choice. However, if said baby starts to cry please take them to the lobby! Do not get into a verbal argument with the man who has asked you to please sit down instead of bouncing baby up and down (right in front of him) trying to calm them. Most importantly though, do not take your three year old into Silent Hill at 9 o’clock at night ever!! Come on people, have you seen that movie?! And please, do not then reprimand said child to “hush up and go to sleep” when they start crying because the psycho-demon-things are pouring out of cracks in the screen and the movie goers are screaming.  I might feel the urge to pick up said child, cover their eyes as we exit the theater and cradle them in the lobby until they fall asleep while you finish the movie.  You may think it is crazy that a stranger is picking your child up but I think it is crazy that they are crying and telling you that they are tired and scared and you think that they will be able to just go to sleep in the middle of a movie that could give grown men nightmares! If you are said parent of said child then I apologize for being forward but I was just about to turn around and give you a piece of my mind.  I really wanted to! I gave it to Babe instead after the movie, mainly because I don’t really confront anyone - as I can't even tell the waiter when my food order is wrong - but I know he sure wished I had told you what I had to say instead of him.  So save him the agony next time and just keep your child at home or take them to Mary Poppins, but don’t make me cringe through an entire movie and almost offer to babysit (free of charge) because you needed to see a sub par movie that badly.  

Man I am dating how long I can hold onto some stuff considering when that movie came out but I feel I must speak up in protest for all those little voices that don't want to see demon spawn before they even reach the horrors of middle school! 

Now that I am in rant mood I could probably go into how I will feel in a few weeks when I finish reading HP and The Half-Blood Prince and then re-watch the movie, but I will just save it for another time. However, if anyone tries to argue with me that Harry Potter is a sissy because the movie 'done jacked' the ending all up then I can't make promises on your safety! Stay tuned folks (or don't if you wish to skip that post), I am giving far advanced warning.  

Ok, end rant and breathe! 

Seriously though if anyone out there has some encouragement that I am not alone in this to make me feel better for possibly offending someone that would be a great help.  Anywhere in particular you would not take your kid?