When is too much?

I sold what should be the last of the girls scout cookies our troop had today. I really didn’t want to be there, but I had two little girls eager to participate so it wasn’t too bad. We did pretty well too. Over $250 worth sold in less than 2 hours. And all the young cute guys giving me winks and smiles helped the time pass more quickly. Lots of service members are just “passing through” when I see them over here. One cute airmen said he was going to have to eat the cookies quick. I knew what that meant. It meant he was headed somewhere not so fun or headed home. (Service members can’t take food on flights out.) So I asked, “Where ya headed”? Home. He’s headed home. Good for him. He made it. He’s going back to his family, friends all in one piece. And home for him is in Wisconsin.

A new landmark number was reached over the weekend. It’s been in the news and on every front page of your local paper. What does that number mean? Is it too many? Is it too few? When do the lives and treasure lost become so great we rethink our direction? I don’t think it ever will. A weak dollar, a less than stellar economy, over $3 a gallon for gas and this has nothing to do with the billions of dollars we are pumping into another country? Do we sacrifice our own to free others? At what cost?

I have resigned myself to the fact we will be over there for years and years to come, no matter who get’s elected next. Our military will have a presence in these two war torn countries as long as we need oil.

I’m sure Doonesbury will run the names of all those killed again sometime soon. It’s touching. I still have the funnies from the first time he ran them. More so to read them to see if there was anyone I knew.

I’ve worn a military uniform. I see uniforms everyday of my life. I see missing limbs and broken minds. I see grown men strong and hard crying like little girls because of the pain. Out of all the destruction and death can come one of two things- unimaginable despair or true strength, compassion, and love. I’ve seen both, the former more than the latter. How many marriages have been broken? How many children have been affected? The toll on our people has only begun to take shape. Thousands dead, hundreds of thousands bodies broken, damaged lives. Families destroyed, children orphaned, single moms and dads created. Forget the treasure. When do we take care of our own people?

Go here to support our service members everywhere.

Change is in the air

I've been wanting to start a journal for some time now. There has always been something else that was more important or time consuming-kids, marriage, work, hobbies. I've been up all night feeling sad because a friend is leaving today, moving far away and I will miss them tremendously. But they said something to me that made me finally pick a blogging spot here in my laptop and start writing.

"You CAN put yourself first."

Between the driving from ballet class to girl scout meetings, the 7pm dinners because we just got home and nothing is ready and my obsessive need to be in my sewing room when piles of laundry are stacking up and there is a sink full of dishes I will take the time to stop, and consider the kind of day I had, what contribution I made in the world, and where I want this life of mine to go. I hope you enjoy my kitschy life.

-RKL