One Lucky Night

 One Lucky Night

I gifted my husband a membership to the Ruffed Grouse Society in 2017. We have not been able to attend the annual banquet in the past because of how busy our past month of May calendars have been. 2019 was going to be the year. We attended our first banquet.

We enjoyed a fun meal, games and meeting new people.

We did not know anyone at the banquet. I looked around for two open seats and friendly smiles. 

We asked if the two empty seats were taken, they were not.

We laughed and cheered. Our table ended up lucky as can be. 

All of us at the table won several prizes.

We won the most! I could not believe it. Each time they called the winning number 1119! That was us! We won the loot below. Jeremy won a new gun for grouse hunting.

We won a canvas bag, a homemade picnic basket, 50lbs of bird seed, a glass cutting board and the gun. What a lucky night!

Jeremy went to register the gun. As he was doing that. I was visiting with our new friends about how fun the evening was. We had talked kids, hunting, dogs and living in Wisconsin through out the evening.

Just before the one couple was about to depart for the night, they asked me if I liked plants?

Do I like plants?!? 

They said they had extra plugs for creating hanging baskets. If I would like some I could take as many as I like. 

Well, the running joke around this house is I do not come home without a plant of some kind. 

Two weeks ago I came home with a bush. It was going to go on a burn pile. It needed rescue.

My boys are always saying "What has mom brought home now?"

How fun it was for us to call them to let them know we had a great night. Dad won a hunting gun! And mom, she met another plant person and she is bringing home more plants.

 

One Lucky Day

May 31, 1997

I married my best friend.

Have a blessed weekend my friends.

 

Be Safe, Love Mom

"I died during the battle, Mom." I went to save two other buddies and got shot going across to help them. I was hit in the leg. My battle buddies tried to save me, but they goofed up the call for the Medi Vac."

The above was the conversation I had with Sam after he completed The Forge. 

Click below to learn more about The Forge.

The Forge

I have learned a lot about becoming a Military Mom. 

We learn to let go.

10 weeks of no communication .. but snail mail. Oh how I loved that snail mail.

We did not hear from Sam for the first two and half weeks. I will say that was hard. I had no way of knowing how he was doing, if he was making friends, if he was succeeding. 

During The Forge I really felt it. I wanted to know how he was doing. I had this urgency to go help him. It all can be hard to explain, all this emotion was coming up inside me.

Again.. more letting go.. little by little.

Quiet courage and fierce determination to help those who need it. That is what I see in our son Sam. I am so very proud of what he has accomplished and what he is going to do in the future.

At the same time I will be honest. I worry.

In my previous post I shared that Sam would be deployed to help with floods, wildfires and hurricanes. His recruiter gently reminded us that he can be called up for battle as well. 

I pray for peace. That our world will get along and not feel the need to kill each other. 

I think about my grandpa Sam and the Greatest Generation.

I think about my dear friend Marv who helped in the Korean War.

I think about our family friends who helped in Vietnam. 

I think about our neighbor Pat who helped in the Gulf War.

Those who we sent care packages during the War on Terror, Cathy, Brendon and Gabe.

When I get anxious I continue to look up: to the stars, the sun and the moon. I tend my garden. I pull weeds, look for bees, butterflies and listen close to the birds. I look up in the tree tops, I watch the leaves wave in the wind and I look to the heavens.

Be Safe Sam!

Love, Mom

All gave some

Some gave all

Remember them this Memorial Day!

Help needed .. Corn Lily

My cousin recently made a bulb order for dahlia and gladiolus. 

She received her order and a free bag of corn lily.

She knows nothing about corn lily, never heard of them. She came to  me for help, but I too, have never heard of corn lily.

Do any of you know about corn lily? 

Easy to grow? Tips or tricks? Do you dig them up in the autumn? 

Thank you for the help!