My cousin shared this on our family website.  She is a Daughter of the American Revolution member and got it from someone at a meeting she was at.  It is beautiful, so I thought that I would share.   

A Soldier’s Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light

Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right, I’m out here by choice.
I’m here every night. So that your family can sleep without fright.
It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam’,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”
“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

I need to say thankyou to those soldiers (and thier families) that stand watch for me.  I am so grateful.  Thank you.

A couple of neighbors had agreed to do a yard sale with me today but they called yesterday and had changed their minds.  I went back and forth on whether or not we should do one and finally decided that we should in fact, get our stuff ready and do one.  I didn’t have an add in the paper so I just parked our car with a sign (actually, I had my DH do this!) on yard-sale row in our town.  Every Saturday the block around the city center is filled with cars with signs advertising yard sales. 

I got up this morning at 6:00 and started getting everything out.  We were going to start at 7:00 and got three early birds.  It was so hot today, I thought that I was going to die, but when we closed down at noon we had done pretty well.  We loaded up the rest of the stuff and hauled it away.  This afternoon, T and I went to the toy store to exchange A’s birthday gift.  It was good for us to spend a little time together.

After A woke up, we got the kids in their swimming suits and blew up the new kiddie pool and got our the slip n slide.  They played for about an hour while DH played the guitar on the porch and I laid in the shade and read my book.  After awhile DH went to pick up pizza for dinner.  We capped all of this off with baths and stories. 

Feeling grateful today for this phase in my life.  Loving being a mom. 

I tried really hard to not think about the packing/cleaning that needed to be done. =)  What did you do today?