Momma Paparazzi - Pictures from Saturday in West Sacramento - September 13, 2010

Momma Paparazzi - Pictures from Saturday in West Sacramento - September 13, 2010

My boys give me such a hard time about having to pose for photographs for my blog,

calling me names like "Momma Paparazzi" and blocking shots with their hands or

whatever they can grab.  Honestly, they only comply when I rant about delivering the last

two of them without epidurals even though they both weighed in excess of eight and a

half pounds each ( Jeremy was 9 pounds, eight ounces ).  I guess I should have started

blogging when they were children.  I think mothers of little ones don't have this problem.

We were all a little somber on Sunday after Saturday night's gunshot incident but I did

get a few photographs earlier on Saturday when we had dinner and celebrated our reunion

with Shawn, my oldest son who had just gotten home from his four months of active duty

in Germany with his Air Force reserve unit from Travis Air Force Base which is located

about sixty miles from San Francisco. Laura's parents and her brother, his wife, and

their sweet little son, Conner, came and my three boys and their ladies were there.  It

was a nice gathering.  I really like Laura's family, especially her mother, Christine, who

is also an R.N.

My granddogs are very sweet and they always remember me.  In fact, Bucky leaped

through the van window when we pulled up.  He is no lightweight, either but he is pretty

agile!

This is my youngest son Jeremy, who will be 26, November 2nd, with his lovely girlfriend,

Katie.  He was a division one college decathlete at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and

Katie was a heptathlete there.

These are the newlyweds ( May 7th ), Laura and Alex.  I can't believe it is already four

months since their wedding.  He had his 28th birthday August 27th.

This is Shawn, my oldest son who will be 40 in December.  He's been in the Air Force

Reserves about twenty years now.  He missed his brother's wedding by a week.  It

looks like Laura has forgiven him - he was supposed to be best man but the Air Force

wasn't sympathetic.

Laura - pretty from any angle!

Conner - isn't he the sweetest?  Look at those blue eyes.

Conner was constantly pointing at the ceiling fan.  He doesn't have one in his house and

he really was intrigued by it. 

Laura's delicious fruit tart

Mom, enough already!!!

They pulled out the bottom of the trundle bad and moved it into the living room for Shawn

and, instantly, Taffy hopped on!

What, this isn't for me?

Wait a minute - Bucky figured it was big enough for him, too!

The kids heading our for an evening in Sacramento, leaving me with the granddogs

Snuggling with Shawn

Bucky and Shawn

Cujo understudy

Well, I realize I didn't get a picture of myself in here but that's fine.  I was in a bit of rush to

finish before the boys completely revolted and broke my camera!  The granddogs are

so much nicer about this whole thing!

'K' is for "Keep The Faith" - Alphabe Thursday, 4-1-10

I am participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday

I've really been on an emotional roller coaster lately!  Dealing with the stroke and cardiac problems of my elderly mother and, getting her settled in an extended  care facility in Georgia, have been almost overwhelming, especially at a time when there should be so much happiness in our family.  My middle son, Alex, will be getting married in just a little over a month and he and his two brothers - and about twenty other testosterone-laden males of the species are bound for a three night sojourn in Las Vegas, starting tomorrow.

That will the locale for Alex's "bachelor" party.  My youngest and oldest sons will be driving from San Francisco to Las Vegas with a few of the other guys and a car laden with various types of alcohol ( non of it the medicinal kind ), snacks, and essentials to tide them through the weekend.  Alex, who lives in Sacramento, will fly to Las Vegas ( I think his bride-to-be feels it might be safer that way!  Perhaps she saw the movie, "The Hangover" ).

On their return, my oldest son, Shawn, who is now 39-years-old and has been an Air Force reservist for about 16 years, will be reporting to Travis Air Force Base, sixty miles north of San Francisco to await deployment with his C17 squadron ( he is an electrical engineer and works on the navigation systems for the aircraft ) to Afghanistan.  I don't want him to go.  It isn't the first time he's been activated.  In the last eight years, he's spent about three years total active duty time, most of it at Travis, replacing active military troops that went to Iraq.  He did go to Kuwait for four months and spent about six weeks on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean but, in those spots, he was pretty safe.  Afghanistan is a different story altogether.  There is a war going on and while Shawn tells me his planes will be kept in the "green" zone, I don't really think any place is that safe!  Mortars and rockets know no boundaries and, it seems to me, the Taliban and other insurgents relish attacking the "green" zone. 

I know Shawn is an adult and he made this choice to be in the reserves - I come from a military family ( my stepfather retired as an Infantry full colonel with three tours of duty in Viet Nam ) so I do understand.  Having just been in my home town of Columbus and neighboring, Ft. Benning, Georgia, it just broke my heart talking to young men and women, who looked barely old enough to be out of high school, heading off to deploy in Iraq or Afghanistran. 

Shawn has been an incredible son and big brother.  He is eleven years older than Alex and thirteen years older than Jeremy.  Their father left the family after I had extensive back surgery and never saw or supported them.  If it hadn't been for Shawn, I wonder if  we would have made it!  Every day, he would take the boys to a sitter on the way to school and pick them up in the afternoon.  I couldn't lift the little ones so Shawn took over their care ( they were one and three at the time of my surgery ).  He got me through that year and a half of disabililty and he's been there for me all of his life.

The other nice thing about him is that he's an electrical engineer and he knows all about computers.  The first time I had him add more memory to my old computer, I was really anxious when I saw the parts all over the table.  Exasperated, he looked at me and said, "Mom, if the Air Force lets me work on the computer systems for the C5, I think I can handle this HP."  Go figure, to me, he'll always be my first born, the cutest little toddler...and I'm scared for him to be in Afghanistan.  Now, I have to go get a towel because I'm bawling like crazy.  Good thing I'm downstairs and the boys are upstairs. 

Whenever I start worrying, Shawn just tells me, "Mom, you've got to keep the faith...so, that's why this Alphabe Thursday "K" is for "keep the faith" - I'll try but I'll be worrying for the whole year and I guess I'd better not watch the news.  I've been mourning for all the sad loss of life in Afghanistan and Iraq but now things are going to feel much more personal to me.

The saddest thing of all is that Shawn will probably be deployed before his brother's wedding May 7th and he was to be best man.  Alex said nobody can replace Shawn so he'll just get married without a best man if Shawn isn't here.

Tonight, I made a special dinner - Mediterranean trout - since the kids leave tomorrow for Vegas and don't get back till late Sunday and Shawn may have to report to Travis on Monday.
I am really going to miss that kid!!  He is the best company.  We sit and chat late at night, over a glass of wine, talking about travel, music, and politics.

I MUST keep the faith that he'll be back, safe and sound, in a year and, hopefully, he won't have changed too much from the experience.  I hope all of you will keep him, and our other troops, in your prayers.

Well, I guess there will be more wine for me now...but I'd rather be sharing!

Mediterranean trout

Jeremy, my impudent youngest son, telling me, "No more blog photos, Mom"

He finally gave in - so we could eat!

Shawn with his heavy beard!!!  Some folks think he looks like George Clooney.

Neighbors

I wrote this poem earlier in the year as I sat at my kitchen table, after the loss of my job, feeling a bit lonely.  I thought back to places I'd lived in the past, before my move to California, especially in my days as a young Air Force wife.  Living in base housing was such fun since we all knew each other and, though we didn't have much money, we frequently shared evening meals together or went out on weekends and explored Boston and, as children began to arrive, we had the "senior" wives to offer advice and support. 

When we were transferred to Tampa, Florida, and bought our first house, it was a new place, again in a neighborhood of young Air Force families where we all knew each other.  As people began to be moved to other bases, it was heart wrenching to say goodbye. 

I had the most wonderful neighbors when I first came to the San Francisco area, Sue and David Gaebel and their two daughters, Mindy and Heather. They had the condominium right next door. Sue was a lifesaver for me, a single mom with a young son to raise.  We became fast friends and shared years of laughter and tears, lamenting over weight gain, my work issues, trying out new recipes.  When I underwent back surgery, she was always there for me.  I was absolutely heartbroken when they moved to San Jose.  Though it was only 50 miles south, I felt like they were headed to Siberia.  Then, when they decided to buy a home in North Carolina, my heart was broken.  While we have stayed in touch and have visited back and forth a couple of times, I miss them so much every day.

Since that time, I've not been close to any of my neighbors.  I'm not sure why.  Of course, during my 21 years as a forensic nurse, being at the hospital around the clock, didn't help much with my social life.  When I wasn't in on a case, I was trying to grab a few hours sleep or trying to spend some quality time with my boys.  My forensic nursing colleagues about the globe were the ones I considered my friends and, of course, I had my life long friends here and there and those I'd made as a nurse with San Francisco.  I didn't miss the absence of neighbors so much until now, jobless, and pretty much alone.  My local freinds are still around but they work during the day and have their own lives.  I used to be off traveling, sailing the seven seas, having a great time but, with this limited budget, I'm lucky to get on the Golden Gate ferry!

At any rate, I wanted to share this poem I wrote.  It's called "Neighbors."  I am most lucky to have my blogging neighbors!!

Neighbors

I don't live in a mansion,

Just an ordinary place,

The distance between houses,

Is a very little space.

Yet I hardly know the neighbor,

That I see most every day,

As we come and go about our lives,

Passing on the way.

We don't linger by the backyard fence,

On a lovely summer night,

Commiserating about our jobs,

As the stars begin to light.

We've never shared a cup of tea,

Or learned each others name,

And as I write and think of this,

I feel it's such a shame.

 

I once lived in a neighborhood,

I knew each person there.

We were like each other’s family,

Everyone seemed to care.

We looked out for each other,

In bad times and in good,

And even the smallest child ,

Had a sense of neighborhood.

Perhaps, I have to start with me,

If I'm wanting something more,

I'll take these homemade cookies now,

And visit the house next door!

Carmen Henesy

Copyright © 2009 Carmen Henesy. All Rights Reserved

Rest in Peace

Today is Veteran's Day in the United States.  I am an Army "brat."  My father was a second lieutenant at Ft. Benning, Georgia when he met my mother.  They divorced many years later and my mother remarried.  When my stepfather retired, he was a full colonel in the Infantry and had served three tours of duty in VietNam.  My son, Shawn, is an Air Force reservist for fifteen years now.  He repairs computer systems for the C5 and C15 aircraft.  

My prayer is for world peace.  I would hope that none of my three sons ever has to be involved in a war and that no mother ever loses a son or daughter to conflict anywhere in the world.  Why can't we learn to negotiate and settle our problems in a civilized manner?  Why don't we teach our children, from their earliest years, better ways of handling conflict?  As a nurse, I look at those sweet babies in the newborn nursery, lying there next to each other, without a shred of hatred or animosity in their minds and ask myself, why can't it always be that way?  

The following is not a happy poem.  It is an all too cold reality that takes place every day.  I am posting it on this Veteran's Day with my prayers for every single person who has lost their life in service to this country and for all the families who have suffered and continue to suffer without their loved ones.  

Rest in Peace

He was such a precious child,
Fair haired with eyes of blue,
Always into everything,
With laughter bubbling through.

Everybody loved him,
He just had that special way,
Of making it seem sunny,
On a cloudy, rainy day.

He'd always help another,
When things would go awry,
So all of us were saddened,
The day he said goodbye.

His unit reached Iraq,
And was only there a week,
When his mother got the news,
Of which she couldn't speak.

A roadside bomb exploded,
He lay in a pool of red,
His blood slowly oozing,
A paramedic pronounced him dead.

Carmen Henesy

Copyright © 2007 Carmen Henesy. All Rights Reserved