A story about wine....

Sixteen years ago, I stood in front of friends, family and God and vowed my love and life to my soul mate, my best friend.  I am truly blessed to have such a supportive, caring husband and father to our children.

Now let me tell you a story about wine.

Our honeymoon was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  It was the best 4 days ever!  We had such an incredible time with so many memories made there. Cade's Cove, the skylift, shopping, great food!   One of our adventures was the Mountain Winery.  We ended up here mainly because we had arrived in Gatlinburg and realized later that evening that we had absolutely nothing to toast our marriage with, and being a Sunday....well we weren't going to either. 

The Mountain Winery is a fabulous place with endless samples of wine....enough said about that. :)  Well after many drinks, laughter, and just overall fun, we purchased several bottles of wine for our stay in Gatlinburg and to take home. 

Outside of the champagne and wine served at our wedding, the wine from the Mountain Winery was the first and only wine we toasted our marriage with on our honeymoon.

This morning I woke up to a gift bag at my bedside.  Inside this bag was a bottle of  Mountain Winery blackberry wine!!!  Now I'm sure you're thinking..."aww, Clyde drove all the way to Gatlinburg to get a special bottle of wine for their anniversary".

Well, no!  But he did ask a co-worker who was going to Gatlinburg to purchase a bottle for us, and blackberry was one of our favorites while we were there. 

So today has been spent thinking about the wonderful time we had in Gatlinburg.  The laughs we had about mishaps that took place.  The beauty and serenity of Cades Cove.  The peacefulness of the mountains.  And of course the shopping!!  Can't forget the shopping right?

Tomorrow we will break open our anniversary bottle of wine and remember the past 16 years of our marriage.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  None of which I would ever trade for anything in the world.

I love you Clyde! 

Forever and Always!

Never forget...

I will never forget September 11, 2001.  I was at work, and I remember a patient coming into the office telling us about the terrorist attacks.  We had no television in the office, just a radio.  We listened to the tragic events transpire throughout the day, and in our minds could not even imagine what had really happened.

I left work that day and immediately went home, sat on the couch and turned on the TV.  What I saw then was beyond what I had pictured in my head all day.  It was almost unbelievable.  I felt like I was watching some horror movie, it just seemed surreal.

An attack on our nation's soil.  The thousands of lives lost.  The heroes who didn't hesitate to put their own lives on the line to save others.

In the aftermaths of this tragedy, our country became one.  American flags flew proudly, our National Anthem was sung loud and proud.  The Pledge of Allegiance was said with meaning and purpose.  We acknowledged strangers, we showed new affection to our loved ones, we took the time for each other.  We were compassionate, sympathetic and supportive to everyone and anyone.

What happened to that patriotism?  What happened to the compassion and caring for complete strangers?  What happened to the humanity that we all found in the days, weeks, months, even year after September 11, 2001?

We are a military family which dates back to my Grandfather, a WWII Navy Veteran.  My husband served for 20 years in the Army, and is an Operation Enduring Freedom Veteran serving in Afghanistan.  Our patriotism for our family is EVERYDAY.  We stand for the pledge, we sing the National Anthem.  It's not a task...it's an expectation.  It shows respect and gratitude.

Our freedom was and never will be free.  Someone is paying the ultimate price.  Whether it was the husband, wife, son or daughter who was in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, on the flight overtaken in Pennsylvania, the first responder who just had to go back up the stairs, or the Soldier, Sailor, Marine or Airmen overseas....someone is paying the ultimate price for your freedom.

God Bless those who paid the ultimate price on September 11, 2001.

Never forget!