Good Morning Vietnam

We've reached the final week in this year's A-Z Blog Challenge and these last few letters are always a doozie. Here we go-

V is for Valor

Dear Darling Grandboys living on the other side of the world, 

Nana misses you. When we talk via Facetime I want to cry from the missing, but you're so precious and so hilarious I smile instead. You live on the other side of the world because your Daddy is serving his country in the US Army. My daddy served his country too. You never got to know him, but you hear stories about your Poppie and that helps a little. 

In going through some boxes recently at your Mema's house in preparation for her move, your great aunt found a letter I'd written to my Dad (your great-grandfather) when he was in Vietnam. That's on your side of the world but to a not quite nine year old in 1969 it might as well have been the moon.

The letter is written on purple paper and I used four different colored markers to make it feel extra special. Across the top I've written Remember I Love You and I circled it too so he wouldn't forget. 

There are so many things I love about this letter, the first being my question to him asking-'What are you doing over there?' with a follow up ...."I hope you are having a good time." At age nine I did not know or understand the first thing about how war worked and for that I am so very grateful. 

I was telling my brother about the letter and he said that's exactly the kind of letter you want to get when you're fighting a war a world away. One that tells you the ordinary thoughts and doings of your little girl. One that reminds you home is a safe place and love lives there. 

The other thing I absolutely treasure about this letter is my dad kept it. He brought it back home with him when he returned from Vietnam. It was tucked away and this is the first I've seen it in decades. I guess the magic markers were not the only thing that made it special. 

Boys be proud of your homeland. Of America. The small towns and big cities. The natural beauty from coast to coast, her purple mountain majesty and amber waves of grain. 

The peoples so incredibly diverse in their race, religion, thought, and voice. 

The opportunities that abound for anyone willing to work hard. 

The risk takers and the homebodies. The volunteers, the philanthropists, the boy who mows his elderly neighbor's lawn. 

The generosity and unity of spirit we embrace when calamity occurs.

The freedom we have to pray, worship, gather. 

The freedom we have to speak, choose our leaders, be who and what we want to be. 

This is our foundation. It's what those early patriots envisioned when they put pen to paper and birthed a nation that would live on long after they were gone. It's what they gave their life's blood to and for, and what our service men and women have been defending ever since. 

Be proud of the men and women who sacrifice so much to defend the ideals this nation was founded upon. Noble ideals set in motion by imperfect people doing the best they could with what they knew in the times in which they lived. 

Is America a perfect place? No. There are no perfect places. But your country, the US of A, is better than most. She is a nation still growing up, a nation willing to learn from her mistakes, a nation longing to always do better, be better. Be proud of that and know too, how incredibly fortunate you are to be a citizen of the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

When I signed off on my letter to Poppie I told him I couldn't wait until September 29th, the day he would come home. That I was counting the days. Know I am doing the same for you. 

xoxo
Nana

These boots were made for walking

I really do want to be caught up on the February Photo Challenge but I just don't see that happening. Today's prompt is 'inside your bathroom cabinet' so here's a picture of my shoe.

You followed that logic, right?

'Shoe' was yesterday's prompt, which I missed, so in the crazy mixed up random that is my blog I decided to skip photographing the inside of my bathroom cabinet and am posting a picture for the shoe prompt instead. The inside of my cabinet feels way too personal, plus why would I ever want a picture of that?

Course you may be wondering why I'd ever want a picture of my shoe and the answer to that question is I wouldn't, but I did take one recently in anticipation of the shoe prompt so I'm running with it.

This shoe is never kept in my closet because it's almost always muddy. It was purchased (along with its mate of course) for one of my girlies many moons ago, just prior to a Young Life Service project trip. They spent most of the project week in Romania that year standing in water that looked something like this-

circa 2006

We threw their clothes away when they got home but hubs power washed the boots and I wear them for hiking. They also brought home a nasty cough, hearts overflowing, and a boatload of memories that all the power washing in the world cannot erase.

Young Life.

Every kid, Everywhere, For Eternity.

Not just a slogan.

In all our many travels while living abroad if you ask my girls what was their favorite trip they both immediately say Romania. It was hard, get-your-hands-dirty, kind of work.

It was Jesus loves the little children of the world.

It was life changing.

There's my boot!

On the foot of my daughter.

In Romania.

Sigh.

If only these boots could talk.

Capital Fun

I have a few thoughts about my week in DC that I'd like to put somewhere and conveniently I have a blog so here we go-

1. I drove down to DC last Tuesday. It takes me a little over four hours if I don't stop to have lunch with old friends in Annapolis, in which case it might take seven. What can I say...I'm a fan of the long leisurely lunch.

2. If the sun is shining when I approach the Bay Bridge connecting Maryland's Eastern Shore with the Annapolis area I feel a tug in my heart that words cannot describe.

Its a combination of the beauty and the memory. We lived in this area for nine years before moving overseas and we still feel its pull.

3. There is one heck of a lot of traffic in and around the little piece of land perched between Maryland and Virginia known as the US capital.

Holy moly.

My daughter gets around mostly via public transportation but even that can sometimes be exhausting. She has it down to a science but you can't control track works, breakdowns, bad weather, or rude people. I do love city life but it requires an extra measure of patience to live and work there every day.

4. My daughter works in the heart of the city so Capitol Hill Staffers are everywhere. Most are young, often still fresh faced from university, some even still in university working as interns...all of them speaking with great authority on any number of topics, but primarily politics and the Presidential campaign. Oi. Does anybody listen to anybody? Does anybody think for themselves or do they just spew out what they've heard other people saying? Does anybody fact check?

Just wondering.

A crowded train is not your personal platform. Between the metro operator who, given her issue with braking, must have been a learner driver, and the opinions being broadcast as the gospel truth to anyone and everyone within earshot by the 20 year old metro rider, and the oatmeal we'd had for breakfast, daughter1 and I were both feeling a little bit queasy on our commute to town.

5. Speaking of people spewing out opinions, here's mine. Hey, it's a blog not a crowded car on the DC Metro so I'm in the clear. I'm a person who is definitely interested in what's going on in the world but I'm just not sure politics is something to aspire to. I think we're best served by people who've had a full life outside of the political arena. People with ideas about how to make America better while staying true to the ideals outlined in our Constitution. People who have ideas, but who also have a handful of practical solutions to put those ideas into practice. They can do this because they've been out living an extraordinary ordinary life. I think we need more people coming to DC on a temporary basis to do a specific job before returning to life outside the Beltway and less people making politics an actual job.

Politicians working, living, and socializing 24/7 with other politicians is not necessarily a good thing.

Stepping down now...

6. On Friday I drove myself out to the 'burbs to meet up with a friend from our England days. We started out in a cafe with the intention of having a cup of coffee. Five hours later we were still sitting in the exact same spot, but we'd had lunch and used up almost all our words. My England friends are in a category all their own.

7. On Sunday daughter1 and I attended church together in the town where she volunteers as a Young Life leader. I also got to meet the couple who more or less run the YL program in that area. Is it wrong for me to say I love that there are adults looking out for my girl? My girl who is an adult herself but who still benefits from the wisdom and guidance of caring older adults in her life? Somehow that feels very right to me.

8. After church we drove a bit further out into the Maryland countryside to spend the rest of the day with hubs sister, brother in law, and their two boy children. She fixed us a delicious lunch and we gabbed and Daughter1 made fun of us with our multiple email/password combinations and we made fools of ourselves trying out Just Dance on the Wii.

Okay, some of us made fools of ourselves.

Some of us must be practicing the game while her small boy children are at school. Ahem.

And then of course some of us are naturally graceful plus spent thirteen solid years in ballet so can make it look easy. I have some pictures but you won't be seeing them here. I promised.

9. Daughter1 had the day off on Monday and even though it was rather Arctic like in temperature she was a good sport and traipsed across the Mall with me. We took some pictures outside the Washington Monument and you can see the flags blowing in the 'breeze'.

Yeah. Arc-tic.

10. The monument has been closed since the earthquake happened last August. It had just reopened prior to the quake but was damaged again on the day so needed further repair. My daughter showed me video of people in the Monument when the quake happened.

Pieces of the ceiling were falling and that thing was shaking and swaying like you would not believe. NOT where I'd want to be in an earthquake if given an option. Which of course you're not, but YIKES!

11. We walked a bit more before popping into the Museum of Natural History to warm up. Since we were there we scooted on up to the second floor to see the Hope Diamond. Any day's a good day to see beautiful jewelry, right?

12. Aaaaannd we walked some more. Lots of walking in DC which is one thing I love about city life. We decided to check out the National Building Museum since Catherine over at Time and Tide mentioned it in the Hodgepodge last week. Neither of us had been before and its an interesting building dating back to 1887.

The four story atrium surrounded by enormous Corinthian columns is absolutely beautiful and has been host to sixteen Inaugural Balls. We walked thru several exhibits that tell the story of how DC was built, how the neighborhoods have grown and changed, and the origin of some of the city's most recognizable symbols. There is some really lovely architecture in this city and we enjoyed browsing around this historic site. The fact that it was warm inside didn't hurt either....just sayin'.

13. I drove back home on Tuesday. It was pouring down rain and so foggy I could barely make out the Bay as I crossed the bridge. Trust me...it's easier that way.

linking to Thursday Thirteen today