My son "The Marine" as I call him, is carrying on a family tradition.
Since 1770 not a generation has past that someone in our family has not proudly served in the military.
Something I hope carries on for generations to come.
Family traditions bring a sense of pride to families. It seems now days that a lot of the younger families are to busy to follow, or start a family tradition. I think they bring a sense of stability to a home and family.
My Father is a Marine. I still remember one day he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. "A MARINE Sir!" His response was something along the lines of "I'll Kick your ass from here.... if you join." It was not that he did not like the Marines. He knew what a Marine was. From his time back during WWII till now the Marines only have one mission. Go to war, fight, and win! They are trained for war, trained to kill and trained to win. It is a brotherhood that comes before family and friends.
I made the mistake of making the statement that my father "was a Marine." I was corrected on the spot! "Once a Marine, always a Marine!
I can say that the Marines made a man out of my boy, but I would be wrong. They made my boy into a Marine! "The Few, The Proud, The Marines!"
My son now has the honor of being called not only a Marine, but also a Devil Dog, a Leatherneck, and I am sure a few other not so nice nouns. Thanks to the Marines my son and I have a lot more in common. Now our chats are about M-16's, 50 cals, living in fox holes and such. I still think I can build a better bunker with sand bags then he can!
As a father I worry about him, but as a father of a Marine I have no worries. I know that he is an elite warrior, that is proud of his Nation. Offered the best training in warfare. The words "Send in the Marines" still puts fear in the hearts of our enemies. I am sure that Archangel Michael was the first Marine.
Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard protect our Nation and liberties. Keep our boys and girls serving our Great Nation in your hearts and prayers
My hope is that one day my grand kids will serve our great Nation's Military Service. I ended up going Air Force, but in my heart is a "Semper Fi" always Fathfull!
I am sure we all heard the "When I was your age" stories from our parents and grandparents. I was trying to think of one to start with, but I couldn't think of any.
My parents grew up during the Great Depression. Instead of talking about how hard it was during that time, they and others in my family talked about how much they missed living in those simple times.
My grandfather told me how they would put baked potatoes at the foot of their bed on a cold winters night, to keep their feet warm. My mother told me her mom would baked potatoes in the morning so my mom could keep her hands warm walking to school, then she would eat it for lunch. I wonder if there is a connection between them and potatoes being my favorite food?
Even though they did not have much, they survived.
I think as a generation of time passes, we forget that we can get by with a lot less.
A while back I got mad at my cable provider, for the outages all the time, so I dropped them. I am happy to say my TV watching tops out at 3 hours per week. I had forgot how relaxing it is just sitting on the sofa reading or drawing. Sitting on the porch watching the sunset.
I feel sorry for kids these days. They have so much peer pressure growing up. According to my son sending 2 0r 3 thousand text message is nothing! I can remember racing to answer that old rotary phone on the occasion that it would ring. I think a big problem with our country is that we have gotten lost from the simple times. Technology is good as long as we control it, and not let it control us.
My hope is that my children, will take the time to teach their kids, that there is more to life than angry bird, cell phones, facebook, and twitter.
A Texans Hope,
Paul
It all started on Nov.23, 1958
That is the day I was born to this beautiful woman. That is the day she was told that I would not live but a few days, I am so glad the doctors were wrong. Being a "sickly" child I was given more attention growing up than my sister or brothers. It did not matter how old I was, every time I would see her she would ask if I was feeling okay. Each time she would say " You look pale." "You look like you lost some weight." Up to the last week of her life she was still concerned about my health.
Growing up, every Sunday she would take me to get an ice cream sundae. Once a month she would drive 25 miles to get me a chocolate pie at a small bakery in Cleburne Tx.
No she did not spoil me, she was just making sure I was okay.
I think I was about 9 or 10 yrs old, when the doctors stopped given me a death sentence, but that never stopped my mom from treating me special. I guess as children, we see our mothers as our care taker.
As we become adults we see them as an adviser on life issues.
When they pass away, we look at mothers in a whole different way.
We see them as Angels that protected us our whole life. Someone that would away be there for us.
I now understand that my mother was the Guardian Angel of my life. She still is, just in a different location now.
My hope is that my children and their children will see their mother's as a Guardian Angel while they are still alive.
A Texan's Hope
That's my dad at the top! Taken at Parris Island in the early 40's. I was lucky growing up in the 60's, when movies and television had heros. When the school day started with the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. When kids wanted to grow up to be soldiers and astronauts.
We've come a long way since those days.
Now kids want to grow up to be, well to be nothing that amounts to anything. Like reality stars. The first time one of my grand kids says anything about Honey boo boo, I think I might just wash their mouth out with soap. People say our country is going to crap. I have to agree. Something is wrong when the kids want to grow up to be on "Dancing with the Stars, or America Idol." We as a nation have failed our children. We let them watch anything on tv. We trust the schools to teach them to aspire to be their best.
It is time we take back our children and teach them right from wrong. Teach them to be their best.
I am proud to say that my kids were raised to judge people for who they are, and not by the color of their skin. I am proud to say my kids do not take a second glance if they see two women or two men holding hands.
They judge a person by their actions!
I am a very proud father who has faith in our Great Country, and hope for the future generations. Unless we teach our children about being proud of America their is no hope.
Our great Nation has changed over the years. Some good and some not so good. As a small child I asked my grandfather why a black person would not walk on the same side of the street as me. He told me because it was against the law. Sometimes I still see that type of hate in people. It is a shame that there are still people who hate others because they look or act different.
Unless we put our hate aside and start looking at others as we look at ourselves there is no hope. Our country is going though a hard time and it will not get better until we put hate behind us. No matter how much we may not agree with the leaders of our country, we should raise our children to respect them. If we have no respect for them, then we have no respect for America.
Teach the children to be proud Americans, teach them to stand tall, and don't teach them to hate others because they don't agree with them.
My father was a proud Patriot, Marine and American. I am a proud Patriot, Veteran and American. My hope is that my grand kids will grow up be proud Americans.
A Texan's Hope,
Paul
I was lucky to be able to live a few years on a farm.
Well at the time I did not think I was lucky!
It was a small 16 acres, half of it was a veggie garden.
My favorite was the half acre of melons! Nothing like busting open a ripe watermelon on a hot day. For some unknown reason, my mom's Uncle planted an acre of blackeye peas.
I was told I could pick all the peas I wanted!
Now blackeye peas don't get ripe at the same time. They get ripe All the Time! In the mornings I would pick peas, after school I would pick peas. I think there were a couple of nights I woke up picking peas!
I hated blackeye peas.
The plow mule would wonder down to the pea patch and watch me. I think he was laughing at me. I bet he was thinking "Now you know how I feel!"
Taking care of a pea patch has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world. My back hurts just thinking about those days.
I did learn a lot in that pea patch. I learned that it would take about 4 hours to pick a bushel of peas, and that 5 bushels would sell for about 20 dollars. I learned if you did not pick the peas they would die on the vines, not serving a purpose.
I think everyone should live on a farm, as my mom's Uncle would say "You need to earn your keep." Which now I know means " If you do nothing, nothing will happen. Everyone has and needs a purpose."
As much as I hated that blackeye pea patch, I have to say they were the best tasting peas I ever had!
Parents plant some peas, or melons, some tomatoes. Watch your kids beam with pride as they grow and harvest them. Then as you sit around the dinner table enjoying what they grew, look at how proud they are!
Teach them that everything and everyone has a purpose in life, and if they do nothing, nothing will happen.
A Texan's Hope
Paul
Cowboys, cops and robbers were the go to games when I was a kid. My brother, cousins and me would spend hours running, hiding, and yelling "Bang! Bang! You're dead!" Now that I think about it, hard to believe I could stay still in one spot hiding for so long.
Reading the news it now evident that those games will be a thing of the past. "A 5 year old girl, gets booted out of school for 10 days for telling her friends that she is going to bring her Hello Kitty Bubble gun to school and shoot them with bubbles."
I was lucky growing up, my father was a Marine, and a police officer. He had one heck of a gun collection.
The first time he took my brother and me to shoot a gun, I must have been around 10 yrs old. I was so excited!
He took us out under a bridge of a creek bed. (There were no shooting ranges back then.) He explained the difference of a real gun and my toy guns. Gun safety, which seem to take hours! Then the time came for us to shoot. It was a Smith and Wesson 38. My brother shot first, I don't remember his shooting, I was so excited and nervous about shooting. My father had threw some empty beer cans on the other side of the creek. When my turn came I pointed the gun with one hand, that is till my dad made me use both! Bang! Bang! Bang! There were 6 bangs in all. I did not hit any of the cans, but I did get close enough that a can did move! I don't remember the first girl I kissed, or the first time I had sex, but I will never forget the first time I shot a gun! The one thing that sticks in my mind after all these years is him saying " Never point a gun at a person, unless you are going to shoot them, and shoot to kill them, cause the son of a bitch will kill you if you don't."
Maybe what is wrong with all this gun control talk, is that there are generations of kids who were not taught about those son of bitches!
I think gun safety classes should be taught in schools.
I hope my kids will take some, and teach their kids also.
Read about how New York, made a law that a gun magazine could only have 7 rounds in it, Hell if you can't stop a person with 7 shots, you might what to invest in a shotgun and some "00" shells! It really don't bother me if our government wants to ban Assault rifles I say let them. I really don't see a reason why a person would need one. Assault rifles are a "Class III" weapon. Most gun dealers do not have a license to sell them. It cost hundreds of dollars for transfer fees and the local law enforcement office has to approve a person having one.
These guns that they are calling Assault weapons are really Pimped up hunting rifles. Anyone can buy a hunting rifle and get a pimped up stock and grips and barrels for them. Back when I was a kid, they had assault rifles, they were called "Big Game" guns.
I really don't think it comes down to banning assault weapons. I think what it comes down to is that some people want to see how far they can go in chipping away our Second Amendment Rights. "Lets see how far we can go. If we can do this, we might be able to start working on banning people from owning fire arms, then the Freedom of Speech will be a breeze!" Oh if my Doctor ever asks me if I own a gun, I'll tell him " Try breaking into my house one night and see!"
America is changing. It is changing because we are letting it. When was the last time you wrote your Congressman or Senator? If they start getting hundreds of letters everyday from us telling them how we think, they just might start worrying about their reelection!
I just HOPE that when my grand kids are grown up, they will still be able to own a gun if they choose so.
Just a Texan's Hope
Paul
Ray Miller made me a News junkie.
The first time I remember seeing Ray was on KPRC channel 2 News in Houston. John Kennedy Jr. was saluting, as his father's casket was passing by.
The news camera shot in on Ray as he removed his black horned rimed glasses to wipe the tears away from his eyes. It was at that moment I became addicted to the news. Most kids, had dreams of being a fireman, police officers, or president. I dreamed of being a news man.
50 years later I still have that dream.
What ever happen to that news anchor, who reported the news as it really was? They did not bash democrats or republicans. They reported the news. They never let their personal beliefs on gun control, abortion, and politics interfere with the news.
My life was formed around the daily news.
During the Vietnam war, I would always stop to watch the news to see the latest casualty reports of our service men who died. Up in the right hand corner of the tv screen, they would have the numbers of American troops who died. For some reason I thought I had to know each day. It pained me to see those numbers. Even to this day a part of me dies, when I see that one of our troops has died.
We all have memories of news events that we will never forget. Those events helped formed who we are, which has me worried. Our kids, and grand kids, will see or hear news events from news anchors that lean far right, or far left in political opinions. I just HOPE as parents that we will help them find a common ground in the middle.
I decided to do this blog for my grand kids, because I want them to grow up well balanced in the events of our times. A way for them to know who I am, and how our country use to be. I will try to be that news anchor in their life that tells it in an balanced way, and HOPE that when they grow up, they will see how great our country was, and how great it can be. It is not our leaders in Washington who our kids and grand kids remember, it is us. If America is going to survive it is because we as parents and grand parents shared with them our values.
All of these blog post will be about my life to some extent. All will be true. Some will be funny, sad, and heartbreaking. I will be honest, and yes it will hurt me, because I have not had a perfect life. I just hope I can help my grand kids have one.
I guess you can say this is a "Texan's Hope" for the future.
Paul
