Red Friday - Support the Troops

There is discipline in A Soldier, you can see it when he walks,
There is honor in A Soldier, you hear it when he talks.
There is courage in A Soldier, you can see it in his eyes,
There is loyalty in A Soldier, that he will not compromise.


There is something in A Soldier, that makes him stand apart,
There is strength in A Soldier, that beats from his heart.
A Soldier isn't a title any man can be hired to do,
A Soldier is the soul of that man buried deep inside of you.


A Soldier's job isn't finished after an 8 hour day or a 40 hour week,
A Soldier is always A Soldier even while he sleeps.
A Soldier serves his country first and his life is left behind,
A Soldier has to sacrifice what comes first in a civilian's mind.


If you are civilian - I am saying this to you.....
next time you see A Soldier remember what they do.
A Soldier is the reason our land is 'strong and free',
A Soldier is the one that is brave protecting you and me.


If you are A Soldier - I am saying this to you.....
Thank God for EVERY SOLDIER
Thank God for what YOU do!

posted by "2VPMom" on Condolence page for Sapper Brian C

Patch

Had to share ~ got this off eBay recently.  I am planning to have a bike jacket custom made by Elaina at On The Finge Leather; (I tried on a friend's custom made jacket and LOVE it).  I am going to have her embroider the outline of a ribbon on the front left over my heart, no colour, just the "invisible ribbon" for families, and sew the patch onto the jacket for me.  I think.  I am also getting a vest, so the patch might go on the vest.

Dialogue in my head ...

Mother is back at home, with new meds, and restrictions.  Which she is mostly ignoring, interspersed with occasional bouts of whining, complaining, and feeling sorry for herself.  I am gonna give her a couple of days of this, then call in the heavy artillery (my brother).

She says there is nothing left she is allowed to eat (heart attack, high cholesterol & pre-diabetic).  I cooked supper for her and dad tonight, all things that were heart healthy and diabetic friendly.  She ate it all up no complaints, said she quite enjoyed it.  Even had dessert.  Didn't seem like "nothing" to me.  Discretion being the better part of valour, (so I am told), I kept that opinion to myself.

I have to admit, there have been some odd conversations going on in my own head the last few days.

So, self, you now have 2 parents, and a maternal grandmother, who have had heart attacks, and have all been diabetic ... think you better change your life style a bit?

Um, ya, I guess I should watch what I eat ... loose that weight I keep talking about loosing ... get more consistent with my excercise program ... learn to cope with stress better ... cut down caffeine ... OOOHHH!!! Speaking of caffeine, isn't there a Tim Horton's downstairs??  I could really go for a 2 cream 1/2 coffee 1/2 hot chocolate right about now ...

Self, were you listening to us a second ago??

Ya, but I'm stressed ... I'll start once this is dealt with ... really ... HEY!  Where did we put those nacho chips???

Self, that is a lot of sodium, and you know we are sensitive to that!

Ya, but I am gonna eat them with guacamole, and avacadoes are healthy fat, right?  So its really a health food ... anyway, I skipped lunch today, 'cause I was going in to get mom, and I thought she was waiting, when in reality we had to wait 2 more hours for her discharge papers ...

The funny thing is, I am not actually a big coffee drinker, usually limited to one on Satruday morning and one on Sunday, but I have been craving it all week.  I have been keeping myself to one XL 1/2 & 1/2 each day, and one can of diet coke, so my caffeine intake isn't totally crazy, but still more than usual for me.

We'll see whether, in the long run, this causes me to make any major (or minor) life style modifications.

because I needed something else ...

I got a call from my dad this afternoon that my mom had a heart attack.  I have came back to my home town to hang with my dad, who is not well enough to stay on his own, and deal with the mom thing.

They caught the heart attack early, did their magic scans, found her right coronary artery was blocked 95%, and ballooned it open and put a stent in, all by the time I got home, got dad, and we made it to the larger medical centre they had transferred her to.  There seems to be no damage to her heart muscle, so *IF* she behaves and listens to the lifestyle modifications they are recommending, and if her body does not reject the stent, all should be well.

While I was on the phone to my room-mate asking her to look after my dog for her and telling her what was going on, I got a "call waiting" from the Wolf's mom ~ just to let me know his plane was landing on Canadian soil ... oh, about an hour ago as I type this.  Freaking yay.

So I am sitting here back in my home town, which is a hop, skip and a jump from the Wolf's parents' place ... good news is he won't be back here for at least a few more weeks, by which time I should be safely back where I live, which is at least less convenient for him.

We also haven't tracked my older brother down yet, since he is on holidays ... so for now I am dealing with this on my own.  I hope he checks in soon, since he will need to back up the lifestyle modifications the doctors are recommending for my mom.  She will not listen to me, but she will listen to him.

EDIT: I don't mean to make it sound like I am not glad the Wolf is home safe; I do not wish him ill, nor did I wish him to get hurt.  I just really don't need to worry about him being home at the same time I am dealing with my parents.

Nightmares ...

We are in the single digits until the Wolf is back in the country. 

I had my first nightmare last night where someone was hunting me with a sniper rifle.  I was trying to find a place to hide, worrying about my dog, and regretting the fact that "lots of windows" is a personal requirement for any place I live.

Do I really think the Wolf is going to come after me with a gun?  No ... not really ... I don't believe that.

Do I think things could get ugly?  Yep.  To the point where I have talked to a neighbour who is a cop and told him if he hears anything at my house, to assume the worst and act accordingly.

The Wolf has been continuing to reach out to me in little ways, MSN conversations, FaceBook comments, etc.  I also know he is back in Anger Management, but I don't recall if that is a standard part of the whole decompression process or not. 

WIth me, he is acting like nothing bad ever happened, that things are fine, that we can go on to being the good friends we once were ... he seems to have forgotten both the intimate times, and the pain.  He is certainly taking no ownership of anything that happened.

He knows me well enough to know that playing on my sympathy, trying to make me feel guilty, that he was "suffering" before, and I "need to" talk to him, to help him through this, has a chance of working. I need to stay strong, to remember that I have rights too, to remember that he does need to take ownership of what he has done.



I know I need to listen to my heart and my gut; I have (mostly) dealt with my pain and moved forward.  I have found closure, and I do not owe him anything.  I should not let him have any power over me, even the power to make e feel scared, to be jumping at noises, starting when I see tall people with brush cuts ...

~~~~~~~~~

Aside: when I flew home from California last week, I saw a man getting off another flight in the Denver airport, a soldier in desert camo, tall and broad shouldered ... I hoped he was coming home to someone who loved him ... and I had a little cry.

Arras

I have a locket I picked up many years ago at a flea market in a little resort town on the shores of Lake Huron.  It is tarnished and battered, but for some reason it called out to me, and I "had to have it".  My guess is it is pewter, and was once plated with silver, but most of the silver is long gone.  On the front is a regimental crest that I have not yet had identified (although not from lack of trying) and on the back, inside a wreath of ivy leaves, is engraved the word "Arras".

A dear old gentleman I knew as a teenager, a WWII veteran and long time Canadian Forces member, who went on to serve in the diplomatic service,  told me that soldiers would have these lockets made when going in to battle, and send them home to their sweethearts.  I dearly wish my locket could talk,and tell me its story.

I am sitting here today watching a History Channel Documentary on Normandy, and was thinking about my locket.  While I cherish the locket for reasons I can't name, the thought crossed my mind of this tradition in a modern setting.  I would not want a locket commemorating Panjawaii or Nahkonay; from Medak or Sarajevo.  I do not want a pice of jewellry to remind me of a place a loved one or friend experienced the realities of war.

I do wear jewellry, mementos to remind me of my loved ones, and maybe to some that is equally strange.  I choose to remeber the person, not the event.

Today's musings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arras itself is a village in Northern France, in the heart of the Artois region.  The Dutch call the village Atrecht, and it is founded on the site of an ancient Celt village called Nemetocenna, in homage to a sacred grove that once stood on the spot.

If you look up the Battle of Arras in Wikipedia, you get 5 results.  One from 1654, 3 from WWI, and 1 from WWII.  I don't know which Arras my locket refers to, although I think we can rule out the one in 1654.  I believe the lockets are a WWII tradition, so I will assume it is from that one.

What is referred to as the First Battle of Arras began October 1, 1914, and was a conflict between France (which, although it lost the major battle, managed to hold Arras itself) and the German Empire.

The Battle at Vimy Ridge was part of the larger WWI assault referred to as the Battle of Arras, April 9 to May 16, 1917.  It is an interesting historical side note that since Newfoundland did not agree to become part of Canada until 1949, in the records for Arras it is listed separately as one of the combatants, equal along side of The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand 


The offensive referred to as the Second WWI Battle of Arras was August 26, 1918, as part of the Second Battle of the Somme, and the Hundred Days Offensive. 

The WWII Battle of Arras, commencing May 21, 1940, was a "tank war" fought as part of the Battle of France.

August 9 ~ National Peacekeeper's Day

On National Peacekeepers’ Day, we remember the peacekeepers who have sacrificed so much, even their lives, so others can know peace. We take the time to remember these heroes on August 9 because it was on that date in 1974 that the greatest single loss of Canadian lives on a peacekeeping mission occurred. Nine Canadians lost their lives while serving with the United Nations Emergency Force in Egypt and Israel.

Canadian peacekeepers help foster sustainable peace and security in countries devastated by conflict. Canada’s Armed Forces, Canadian diplomats, the RCMP, provincial and municipal police forces and civilians all take part. Peacekeepers deliver humanitarian aid, supervise elections, repatriate refugees, train local police forces, disarm warring factions, clear mines and improve education and democratic systems.

From Veteran's Affairs Canada

 

 

 

North American Envirothon

I am just wrapping up a week in California at the North American Envirothon competition ~ you can see photos of the week at http://www.creativeexposures.biz/g/canon_envirothon-fresno_ca-2010 , and learn more about the competition at http://www.envirothon.org/ .    (yes, there are photos of me and no, I am not going to tell you which ones!)

California has been pretty hot, for this poor little Canuck.   Daytime highs in the low 100's F (that's very high 30's, Celcius!) ~ I am really feeling it, very tired at the end of the night. Good thing is the students have been too, which means they have really been no trouble to supervise!   They are really good kids anyway, the winners of their local provincial or state competitions, and very dedicated to what they are doing.  It has been a real pleasure to be here.

However, I am very ready to go home.  Which I do at 0-dark-stupid tomorrow.  So off I go for closing ceremonies, then dreamland!!