~ Friends In All Seasons ~

I am sharing some posts today in honor of,
United States National Day of the Deployed. 
This day is observed annually on October 26th.

Unless you have had your loved one deployed in a war zone
you can only TRY to imagine what the family of the deployed
goes through.  Others who have lived through that, GET WHAT
you are LIVING like no one else will. 
I pray daily for our deployed and daily for those who love them.
My son, Vincent was in the US Air Force from 2002 until
he choose to separate in 2012.  I wrote the following in March of 2004.
At that time, long before Facebook, I belonged to a private military
parent support group.  We NEEDED each other to get through. 

~ Friends In All Seasons ~

I will attempt to understand you,
even when you don't understand you.
I ask the same of you.

When I speak to you and attempt
to console or council you,
You may not like the words I speak,
but I will speak them in friendship,
a friendship that has a foundation
of love and caring.

It's quite easy to be friends on
a sunny bright day, when all is
well and the birds sing us their song.

It's quite another thing to have found
ourselves caught in a flash flood.
I have a tight grip on a tree
branch and our hands are gripped
together holding on, lest we be swept away.

We were placed in each other's life paths
for a reason. We have bonded by the
parallels of our lives.
I am thankful for you.

In all seasons my friend,
May you feel the embrace
of my friendship, and I yours.

Dedicated to
~Gabrielle
3-27-2004 ~~~ Love Deb

 March 24, 2004

Love to you other Military Parents

I am sharing some posts today in honor of,
United States National Day of the Deployed. 
This day is observed annually on October 26th.

Unless you have had your loved one deployed in a war zone
you can only TRY to imagine what the family of the deployed
goes through.  Others who have lived through that, GET WHAT
you are LIVING like no one else will. 
I pray daily for our deployed and daily for those who love them.
My son, Vincent was in the US Air Force from 2002 until
he choose to separate in 2012.  I wrote the following in March of 2003.
At that time, long before Facebook, I belonged to a private military
parent support group.  We NEEDED each other to get through. 

Love to you other Military Parents

Dear Friends,

I laid my head down last night to sleep,
feelings of uncertainty raced through my body.
When sleep did come to me,
I felt like I traveled the world in my dreams.

I was with you, another parent, there were no
words of comfort to offer, so I only sat quietly
with you holding your hand.
Our eyes and hearts spoke to one another.
As I patted your back and bid you farewell
I told you I would see you on the site in the morning.

I found OUR children scattered all over the world.
Their sense of duty and strength would astound you.!!!
They actually FEEL your support, their connections
to your hearts are inseparable.
They send their ~love~ to YOU. !

I woke up this morning and felt tranquility
because of OUR connection to each other.
The anxiety of the times is softened
by knowing we are here for each other's support.

With Love to you !
Debra Estep
March 15, 2003
* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

My Thoughts of Support to You

I am sharing some posts today in honor of,
United States National Day of the Deployed. 
This day is observed annually on October 26th.

Unless you have had your loved one deployed in a war zone
you can only TRY to imagine what the family of the deployed
goes through.  Others who have lived through that, GET WHAT
you are LIVING like no one else will. 
I pray daily for our deployed and daily for those who love them.

My son, Vincent was in the US Air Force from 2002 until
he choose to separate in 2012.  I wrote the following in October of 2004.
At that time, long before Facebook, I belonged to a private military
parent support group.  We NEEDED each other to get through. 

My Thoughts of Support, To You....

My son proudly serves in the US Air Force.
During his deployment to Iraq ( Nov of 03 until March of 2004)
I never once felt alone.

First off God was at my side holding my hand.
Next came family and friends and my circle enlarged.

Around my circle I envisioned a circle of other military parents,
wives, husbands, children and their family and friends.
All standing shoulder to shoulder, hands clasp to one another.

Around that circle standing shoulder to shoulder I felt the
presence of the people of the United States of America.
That circle was huge. Dotting that circle and standing just
a bit taller than the average person were former military folks,
each proudly wearing the dress uniform of their branch.

Then came another circle and at first I did not fully understand
why they appeared so faint almost transparent.
Until I heard their voices. At times I heard them speak to me
or heard their offered prayers. `Dear God Bless Johnny'.
At times I was allowed a glimpse of what their child saw.
Battles of men all lined up in rows, battles of brother
fighting brother in the back yards of this country.
Troops in fox holes shoulder to shoulder, a harbor on fire
as troops pulled wounded friends to the safety of floating
debris. Soldiers in snow covered mountains, soldiers mucking
through humid rice paddies, soldiers in blazing heat with sand
whipping their bodies…...

The voices I heard were feminine because the love
of a mother for a child transcends time and space.
`We've been where you are now'. `We've waited months
for a single letter home'. `We've cried your same tears'.

It's been nearly 7 months since my son returned. Until now,
I've not really stopped to put these thoughts down on paper.
You need to know that this was a huge part of my strength.
For me these thoughts were empowering, knowing I was not
alone in my fears and concerns. Others were standing with me,
and others had gone before me.

To you who's children have yet to leave…..

Today is the day you can actually LIVE in. Gently call
your thoughts back and remind yourself where they are today.

To you who's children are away, please trust that we
are shoulder to shoulder with you. !!!

I've been online for over 10 years.
I have met people who have forever changed my life. !
#1 being my dear husband Michael.
I have friends I never dreamed I would have. :)

Over these 10 years it's not been easy describing
bonded friendships to folks who are not online.
They just don't GET how powerful
it can be being connected to folks via the written word.

I'm still in touch with one of my very first
online friends, Dave.
He and his wife Patti live in Pennsylvania.
We met each other and our families when we traveled
there in 1999.
There is a reason for my explaining this as an ending.
Dave and I would talk to one another over the net and when
we ended our IM's, we would touch the screen at the
same time, index finger to finger.
It was the closest way to feel connected.
I can't reach out and hug YOU now, but just touch the
screen with your index finger,
right at the end of the line here,
and KNOW that I just touched it with a hug
as I've sent this to YOU. ________
Lovies --
OXOXOX
Deb in Ohio
Proud AF Mom of VinnyOct 3, 2004

Facts From Long Ago

Very interesting . . .

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were "piss poor."
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot; they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your hands & complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. Since they were starting to smell, however, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women, and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it . . . hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof, resulting in the idiom, "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed, therefore, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, leading folks to coin the phrase "dirt poor."
The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way, subsequently creating a "thresh hold."
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire..
Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while, and thus the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up, creating the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive, so they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.
And that's the truth. Now, whoever said History was boring?