treasures

 I am so blessed to have been able to visit my sailor last month.

He has been out a sea a lot as the ship prepares for deployment.

Fortunately he had a little time in port and I, my daughter &

youngest son went out to visit him and his fiancee. 

It is wonderful that my son is stationed in beautiful San Diego!

The weather was perfect and we enjoyed our visit so much! 

We toured the ship (my 2nd time!). 

It s always sobering to see the work environment of our sailors.

It is harsh, in a word. 

 My son is a confident, hard-working sailor with almost

5 years of service under his belt.

I am very proud of him. 

If you can, visit your sailor. See their work environment.

It will give you an eye-opening perspective on the everyday life 

of those who choose to serve in the US Navy. 

It is a life of hard-work and sacrifice and they all

deserve our respect and support .

 I loved having most of my kids together for a few days.

It did my heart good! ♥  

And then, with grateful hearts, we say good-bye for a while.

Happy memories will keep us strong until we meet again.

We will treasure these blessed days.

~♥~

Son and Sea on HLN's Salute to the Troops

HLN aired a short piece about my sailor's homecoming

from an almost 10 month deployment. 

Here's the article I wrote that was the 

basis for the on-air segment. 

~♥~ 

Son and Sea on HLN's Salute to the Troops

update~ January 2016

So, I am woefully remiss in regards to this blog. I'm going to do better!! 

 All is well and my son is still a sailor, still a nuke and is doing great! 

This pic is from a port stop in Hawaii. 

It was a quick stop right before the ship's homecoming 

from a long deployment to the Middle East. 

I was VERY BLESSED to be able to go to San Diego and
see his ship come in.If you have a deployed sailor I strongly urge you
to attend this event if you possibly can!

It is worth every penny! I can say, with NO hesitation, that this event 
was one of the most amazing things that I have ever experienced! 

I will write an in-depth post about it, but trust me when I tell you

it is incredible! My son was deployed for almost 10 months.

Seeing that massive aircraft carrier come into view,
 the rails lined with sailors in dress whites, 

is a sight I will never forget!  

And the moment when I laid my eyes on my son after so long...

well, what can I say? My heart was so full, so very full!

~♥~

This is how it is when your child chooses to serve.

It is  series of hugs... good-bye, hello, good-bye.

It is trying make a thousand memories in a few days,

enough to last you until the next time. 

It is hard and beautiful and bittersweet.

And if you are lucky, despite the distance and the time apart,

you will see that familiar grin and know

that your sailor is still yours, still that boy (or girl)

that grew up so fast... and you will know

that you are blessed.

~♥~