Skip to main content

The thankfulness of being "positively busy"

-->

I am thankful for my hero. My son, aka Badass MOFO.  A man who chose a profession which took him halfway around the world to protect others, knowing the potential harm to him. This is the second year in a row we will not be celebrating the holidays with him with us. Yet, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This morning I ran a 5K. The worst one I have run all year. My time was super slow. I have had a nasty cold the last couple of weeks. You know the one…achy muscles, stuffed nose, coughing from deep within, and an overall feeling a fatigue. As if the cold wasn't enough, somewhere around mile two something happened to my hamstring. It was about then that Sean first crept into my head. Unbeknownst to him, he kept me running.  At the finish of the race, I made a beeline for massage table. Talk about pain! I did. I talked about it while dancing the Macarena with Sana and Patti. I talked about it when Tony told me about my time (horrible!). I talked about it during the award ceremony. And then the lady stopped the award ceremony in the middle of announcing a winner…

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a Wounded Warrior, a double amputee, at the Gobblers’ Run today. He is just about ready to come down the hill. Please turn around and give him some applause.”

Sean walked with me in spirit as I did more than just turn around. We walked toward the hill together. Tears filled my eyes as so many realizations cascaded down on me. He was one of the last to finish the race, yet he walked across the finish tall and proud on his own two legs. Any pain I was feeling was forgotten. It took the humbleness of a hero reminding me what was important.
We hear about our military men and women coming back from war broken physically and mentally. We hear about IEDs, gunfire, and suicide bombers. Yet, there is so much more to these men and women than we realize. For war is not all about violence. It can also be about doing good for others.

Yesterday, I had a chance to chat on facebook with Sean for quite some time. After we finished with the “How’s everybody doing?” part of the conversation, I asked him what he did when he wasn’t working. As with many of us, it depends on the day. That particular day, he changed the tires on the Gator they drive up and down the mountain each day. On his upcoming to-do list are things such as put a winter door on the interpreter’s room “since it’s getting cold here” and put an antennae on the top of a tower. The other day, he met a Sergeant from the Afghan National Army. After the Sergeant found out what Sean does for a job, he asked if Sean would teach him and some of his men how to use their IED detection tools more effectively. Sean is working on making that happen in his time off. In Sean’s words, “I try to stay positively busy. I figure I am here to do good.”

Good is happening all around us. Even in the midst of the war, whether it be fought with bullets or metaphorically within us, when we realize we are here to do good, we begin to end the war. Today, I am thankful for being “positively busy” even as the war rages and the man who embodies it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aging sucks.....or does it?

Upon first thought, watching a parent age sucks. Unnoticeable at first. A bit of a stoop, some creaking in the knees, whitening of the hair. The doctor’s visits begin, as do the pills One for high blood pressure, another to thin the blood, and a handful of vitamins to top it off. The signs are there, but it is easier to see him as he has always been. My father, a pillar of strength. Until my pillar was knocked off-kilter. A simple surgery and the mortality of my father looked me square in the eye when the drugs took hold of his brain. Amidst his fidgeting and confusion, I realized…AGING SUCKS! And then….enlightenment dawned upon me….AGING IS BEAUTIFUL Wrinkles tell of smiles while silver hair speaks a life of memories. Knees creaky after years of kneeling in prayer, offering up a lap, and climbing up the stairs for one more kiss goodnight. Almost forty-eight years of memories nestled in my heart. Memories of my father. Taking us to church each Sunday Building and fixing ...
2 comments
Read more

The Challenge of Five

Living alone is easy. Add one more person to the equation and it becomes a bit more challenging – especially when that person is a 13 year old. But in time, we figured it out. Somewhere in there, Beatrice joined us. With Thanksgiving came the joy of the five of us together for the week. And then reality set in as Tony and Sana began their trek back to New Hampshire. Our household of two was now a household of three as Sean made himself a home with us.   For the first five years of Sean’s life it was just he and I. How difficult could it be to have my 22-year-old son living with me again? A mother couldn’t ask for a better son. He is loving, kind, intelligent, and hard-working. He has grown into a fine young man who has lived on his own for the past three years. He has his own way of doing things.   I have my way of doing things. Needless to say, the two clash a bit. I tend to go with the flow and do things (supper, adventures, etc) as the mood strikes. He likes to plan eve...
2 comments
Read more

I Got the Call!

I began the day a bit down in the dumps. (As is very evident from the earlier blog entry of the day.) I was missing my family. Wondering about the risk we took. Uncertain how it would all work out. My brother, Jamie, insisted that Patti and I join his family for a Braves game. He bought us $1 tickets and told us to get to Turner Field. The great thing about Atlanta Braves games on a hot Sunday afternoon is that the turn-out is not very good. We followed Jamie toward his seats on the third base line and sat in a couple of empty ones about 20 rows back. By the end of the game, I was in the first row! Apparently it was too hot for many of the fans. The Braves trounced the Dodgers, 13-1. (Newly added to my bucket list: get to as many of the major league baseball parks as possible. I have been to three this summer alone!) Upon returning ‘home’ I decided to check out the possibility of more jobs. Curiosity led me to Manchester’s website. (Manchester is about 30 minutes away from whe...
3 comments
Read more