Trying to Count My Blessings

Today I am thankful for all the  usual things.  For our health, for a cozy home with a nice comfy bed, for enough food to eat, and enough clothes to wear.  For meaningful work, and the income it brings. 
I am thankful for these things, and thankful to live in a country where MOST people  have these things, while praying to see the day when everyone does.

I am thankful for the community I live in, for the friends and neighbors around me, for family, and for my online family as well.  So many of you are close friends now, people I would never have been  blessed to know otherwise.  Your kind words and shared jokes mean a lot.  I hope my words are also helpful to you.

I am thankful for our freedoms.  Freedom to choose which church to attend, or not to attend any at all.  Freedom to speak my mind, freedom to live where I choose to live, finances permitting. Freedom to be myself, even if I am sometimes unconventional.  (Though I will admit, they don't come a whole lot more conventional than I am...)

I am thankful for all those kids in the military, putting their lives on the line for us all, and for their families who wait anxiously at home, and dread late night phone calls, and really dread seeing somebody in dress uniform on their porch.  I have been there.  I've spent birthdays, Thanksgivings, Valentine's Days, Easters, and many other special days without my husband when he was active duty.  He was an aircraft Loadmaster, and he was gone a lot when we were first married.  During the first Gulf War, I spent our Anniversary and Thanksgiving without my husband.  I was alone in Germany, living off base on a farm.  (Our landlords were wonderful people.  They checked on me just about every day.) 
Matt got to come home for Christmas, only because his crew drew the lot for the plane scheduled to come home for maintenance that week.  He was gone for New Year's and my birthday, and Valentine's Day. 
So, I can relate at least a little to those families who are gathering around tables with an empty spot reserved for a loved one deployed.  We are so very grateful for their sacrifices, and for the service they so willingly give.  Proud to be part of the military family.  And we ARE a family, no matter which service, active duty or retired, we are family.  We look out for each other.  I still shop on base because my surcharge money supports the commissary system worldwide, keeping it open and healthy for the kids who need it today.  The BX supports Morale, Welfare, and Recreation services, so when I need something, I look there first. These  privileges are not just benefits my husband earned, they are a way to keep the facilities going for the kids who depend on them now.  Very thankful that we can do that.

So, as we prepare to overindulge in our plentiful food, with family and friends, we remember those who don't have enough food, or who are far from family and friends, and we pray that they may soon have enough and/or soon be home with their loved ones.  As we enjoy our good china and the cozy house, we remember those with no home, and pray they will soon have one.  We promise ourselves to continue to contribute time and money to groups that help bring those desired outcomes about.

My dear readers, I am thankful for you, and I pray the year ahead sees us all continue in good health, with everything we need, and at least some of what we want.
Blessing to all!

Warning: Poetry Again

This Father's Day
By Carolyn Kay Armistead
June 15, 2014

I was his baby girl
The one he worried about
I faced a different world
Than the one in which he fought.

He pushed me
As much as he could,
To get out and see
To make a difference
In my world.

He never really told me
But I know he was proud
Of me, and my abilities
Of the life I chose to live
Not an easy one,
But the best one for me.

He left us much too soon.
An accident, and he was taken
The man I was sure had
Hung the moon.
The man whose passion for learning
Pushed me to study and read
And teach.

Mom gave me the folded flag
That had been on his coffin.
Because he was a vet.
No way she could know
How the sight of that flag
Could make my blood run cold.
Because every military wife
Dreads being given a flag to hold
When she'd much rather have
The man who served it with pride.

 Pop survived his service,
And thankfully,
So did my husband survive his.
I have a lot more than a flag
To remember Pop by.
Though still I miss him
As years go by
It gets easier to remember him
And smile
For all the good times he made sure
We had
For the love he gave his children
Will never, ever die.

Old Songs

By Carolyn Kay Armistead
June 15, 2014

Music and memory
So tied together
Melodies are haunting
Because they make you remember
Times and places
People you once knew
The way you used to be
And the things you used to do.
Some songs can make me feel
Like a teen again
Bring back those heady days
Of high school
Hanging out with my friends
So easily
With just a melody
A lyric
Remember...
Some songs bring back childhood
And watching my Mom
Try to dance
Around the house while she was cleaning
With Sinatra
Or Bing
Or the Big Bands
On the stereo.
Remember...
Old Abba songs
Bring back the magic
Of long talks
With Matthew
When we were both
So young and so in love.
Yes, I remember.
 Ah, such memories.
Such treasure
All to be found
In a song.



The Book Sorter Song
By C.K.Armistead 6/15/2014

Book comes in
Door comes down
For a while,
Nothing.
THEN
Down the belt,
Around the corner,
Into the bin
It belongs in.
Even before
It hits the bin
The next book
Has rolled in.
Starts its journey,
Finds its way,
And of course
Another
Is already waiting.
All goes well
Books moving along
As we try to keep up
Sorting onto carts
From the bins,
Listening to
The sorter's song.
Then,
It stops dead
Oh, dread.
The light
For some unknown reason
Is red.
We check, we reset,
We cross our fingers
And pray,
The computer restarts
The belts do their dance
And before long
Once again
We're humming along
Singing the sorter's song.



Elusive Words

C. K. Armistead
6/15/14

Barge around in my head
Keep me from thinking straight
Or sleeping
Or reading
Yet
Will NOT get out on the page.
You elude me.
Babbling on when I have no way
To catch you,
Put you on paper
Or on screen
Then disc
And thus keep you.
Somehow
You seek to avoid capture
As if fearing
Servitude
As if you wouldn't
 Still be words
With something to say
As if by getting you down
And in order
I wouldn't be giving you
A voice
A chance to be heard
Somewhere besides
The inside of my skull.
So please
Now that I am here
Where I can save you
Please,
Words?
Come out
And play.


All of these poems have been written this evening, over the course of an hour or two.  These are really just my way of stretching the writing muscles, of hoping to coax the words out.  I know they are not polished and completely finished.  They may never be.  But this is how poetry is sometimes.
Not very lyric, not always neat, not even always rhyming.  A lot like life.  A bit messy, but in its own way, beautiful.