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.

Hot Mess Mamacita

I was at the beach with my family a while back and took the picture below. I had planned to post it earlier but then began the challenge to blog everyday in May and this post just didn't make its way into the mix. So I shall share it with you now, partly because it was already written and I have to be at work by 7:30 and partly because I haven't seen my niece in a couple weeks and am missing her. 

This is my beautiful niece; I call her Lele or, on occasion, mamacita.  This picture was taken at the beach, hair all askew, eyes as red as if she were related to a Cullen, and in great need of a nap.  I absolutely love this picture! One, because I love this little girl with my whole heart but mainly because it represents how truly related we are.

Heaven help us, this child is the exact replica of her mama and me... please pardon me while I take a moment in prayer.

Lord,
Please keep her safe from herself! She is so much like the other women in our family and we were all blessed by Your good hand with just a little bit of 'cray' and impulsiveness.  We have the uncanny knack of always finding that "fine line" and riding it just as long as we can; please keep her toes on this side of it.  Protect her from men with the perfect combination of gorgeous eyes and smooth words.  You know what a disastrous recipe that can be.  Make her strong enough to not be a welcome mat that gets walked all over but hospitable enough to always keep the door unlocked for a friend on a rainy night.  And when I say unlocked, what I really mean is bolted tightly until she has looked through the peephole once said friend has knocked, because while I hope she is trusting I already know she's not stupid.  Thank you for putting a good size brain in her head.  Keep a hand firmly on her shoulder and a guard over her heart.
- Amen

Now that I have a good bit more help on her side I feel a little more at peace.  Man, if she doesn't have it cut out for her though.  I think it is seems like she got all the impulsivity and stubbornness in my soul and the impulsivity and stubbornness in my sisters and they combined to create a firework of independence! She's like the Fourth of July that child - feisty as all get out - but she is also sweet and kind and caring.  She can turn up the charm like a leprechaun on St. Patty's Day and has her Unca' Andrew wrapped around her little finger (ie: "Aunt Mel can I have a lollipop" "No, sorry you may not." Two minutes later... "Aunt Mel?!" And she's peeking around the corner of my bathroom with a sucker in her mouth. I hear Babe shout from the kitchen.  "Lee? I said don't show Aunt Mel". See what I mean?! That so would have been me at her age.) Bless any sweet daughters I may have and help me to keep them from being spoiled to death (Lord, can I please just have one.  I will take all the boys You are willing to give, but just one daughter please?! I am not sure it I can handle any more than that). Thanks!

All Domesticated Like, Just Read My Walls!

My post title has domestic in it... call the presses and alert the news!

I don't know where it came from but this last week had found me with a 'crafty, clothe-my-naked-walls' hair in my rear end. Considering it has been two and half years since we moved in and two and half years since I so much as placed an item on a shelf to look somewhat decorative you should probably not expect too many of these posts.  This mood may have come about because my dear friend Kalee was in town visiting from her new home in Birmingham. She is so good at all that 'planny, arrangey' type stuff and some of it may have rubbed off while she was here. Whatever the reason, since I have been in said mood lately I will share with you my fond little corner! My walls are so happy not to be naked anymore. Come and read them for yourself!!

I finally made the book wreath that I had found the idea for here.  Check Christina out if you want to know how to make it because, well, my step-by-step process talk would give you a whole lotta nothing! I could barely figure out how to roll the cones the right way. It took a handful of tries before Wally (who was helping me) finally figured it out and then a bazillion how-tos for me to finally catch on.  This is what finally began to commence after that tutorial.

It all started with a few ripped out pages. This part was the hardest thing for me to do! You do not rip books around this girl!!  Books are like babies, they need to be treated gently. I can get all kinds of be-nice-to-that-book crazy, but I felt that given the cover and the amount of love this book had seen it was time to be recommissioned for a higher purpose.

And that is when the pile began to grow...

and grow... (plus you can't beat some time with my main man Tim McGraw and the ever wonderful Sandra Bullock)

And grow! Until it was this glorious pile of Harry Potter happiness just waiting to be put together to adorn my wall.  It was actually pretty neat seeing the book piled up on my table like that, with the pages spread out and the cover atop them all.

And then all of those cone pages became this. It took the first movie (The Blind Side) to cone everything and then the second (Bedtime Stories) to get everything glued down properly.  I used a 12 inch wreath instead of 16 because I wasn't sure the book had enough pages to fill the bigger one up. 

Then the next day, in all the remaining crafty steam of the day before, I finally decided to display wedding photos.  And this was born!

I was so happy with myself for these little projects that I did a little jig (or two)! Babe has only been hinting for me to clothe our walls for what seems like years now (maybe because it actually has been).

I also figured I would share with you a lovely sandwich Babe and I ate when we went to dinner at a friends parents one evening. I now dub this sandwich the "Mr. Beaver" in honor of our sweet host (though he did get the idea from a sandwich shop somewhere in St. Pete)!

It is sandwich consisting of grilled tuna steaks, egg salad (made by a sweet friend I call Beave) and avocado. Considering I am not a huge fish eater (though I do love meatier fish such as tuna) and I do not typically like egg salad, I would say anyone should try this sandwich.  You will love it! It is so yummy! I loved each and every last morsel of it.  So, so very delicious!

Now that you have made it through my rant of domesticated, craftiness how has your summer kick-off been? 

Any sandwich ideas you love that I could try out this summer?