-
It Was a Great Day to Fly
This picture may not look like I am flying but I think deep down in my brain I thought I was! Its kind of hard to not think about flying after being in the cockpit for 25 of my 30 years on active duty. I was blessed with many great opportunities to learn new aircraft, visit new places and fly with the best crews and personnel in the aviation business! They were great! I flew helicopters (UH-1N) first; went to fixed wing (T-38 instructor); back to helos (UH-1H and N; HH-3 and HH-60) and ended my career flying C-141s and C-17s. I have seen sunrises from 35,000 feet, sunsets over…
-
Cancer… Ouch
Why are some words just so much scarier than others? Cancer certainly is. I remember when my surgeon called early one Saturday morning. I had seen him in his office just the day before, he performed a biopsy. A gazillion people have them done. We chatted, and he said he was leaving on a long awaited vacation that night. So when the phone rang Saturday, and I heard his voice, I honestly could not figure out why he was calling… and would not process what he was saying. He would not hang up the phone until I repeated his message to me as I stood by the phone swirling in…
-
Playing in the dirt is proper for all ages.
There is a parking lot of tonka trucks beside our garage: big, dirty, a bit rusty…. well used. Now, that is the way it should be. The bright yellow and brown are visible as soon as you near the house. We have a very well maintained lawn, sun gardens, and a mulched ‘sitting area’. And we have grandsons. YES life is good! We also have a gravel driveway. I give the boys trowels and the freedom to move dirt. With determination they pile up pebbles and stones. They build roads and bulldozer fodder. It takes them hours to accomplish a good mess. And, may I add with pride, they do…
-
Is This Our Career?
One of the biggest challenges of military families is deciding when it is time to step out of the service and join the civilian world and job market. I have seen many fine military personnel and their families make that decision and most had great reasons when they did step out! Some examples included the the family that wanted their high schoolers to stay at one school; others had a great job opportunity sitting there waiting for them; most had seen enough moves and long separations; some were just tired of the military routine or had missed a promotion cycle/opportunity and with their disappointment had decided to move on as…
-
Stars & Stripes Father’s Day messages
I am scatter brained. I’m not sure if this a product of being a mom or just a matter of being who I am. I’ll start doing one thing, remember something else I was supposed to finish and move on to that, leaving a trail of unfinished business behind me. Sometimes it is the kids that call me away, sometimes I just plain forget what I was doing! Today I was working on writing an article for our MilitaryAvenue.com Partners when I surfed onto Stars and Stripes (which really had nothing to do with my article, its that scatter-brained piece of me). They are publishing Father’s Day messages in their…
-
New Discoveries and Your Military Benefits!
Memorial Day weekend was wonderful! We had beautiful weather and great family get-togethers; and watched the Memorial Day parade in our small town with a niece proudly marching in the high school band! What fun. During a late walk on Memorial Day after all the festivities Deb and I discovered a couple of beautiful Dogwood Trees in our woods that we had not seen before. They were huge and we are still wondering how we missed them for the last 6 spring/summers!?? Maybe the cooler spring allowed more blossoms and/or the sun angle was right in the evening? But the blossoms jumped out of the new green vegetation and they…
-
Freedoms on this Memorial Day
It is Memorial Day! I got up at the “crack of dawn”… (ok, it was 7:30am but I am a night owl) so that I could get breakfast going, get the troops dressed, and head down to the local Memorial Day parade which started at 9am. The boys brought their bags to grab the candy. I brought my camera to grab the photos. It hasn’t been a very well attended parade in the past (or today for that matter) but those of us that are there are excited to be there. The boys enjoy the upfront view of the high school marching band, the larger then life fire-trucks and the…
-
Memorial Day Image
2008 Memorial Day Poster (Poster created by Virginia Reyes; U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr.) Sometimes a picture says it all! Have a great Memorial Day weekend and remember those who have served us all so well!byColonel KonThursday, May 22, 2008Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestMilitary Life:Col K,Memorial Day,memories,service
-
A Preschool Milestone
Tomorrow is my 5-year older’s last day of preschool. This Fall he will board the big school-bus each morning bound for kindergarten and travel down the next road in his education’s journey. He has been in preschool for three years. He has a September birthday and we live in a public-school district with an August 1st cutoff. So when he started three-year old preschool in the fall of 2005 he was one of the youngest in the class. He was barely potty-trained and he clung to my like glue as I said good-bye the first few weeks. I was afraid he would never adjust and he would be attached to…
-
People in the News… Military Brat Work… And the Homefront View
Daniel, the oldest son of the Kissinger family, packed his belongings; made friends; and learned the ins and outs of world travel. Dan recognizes the need for communication and the flow of information that is readily available via internet. With his sister Leanne, another class act brat, created an avenue of information that is a super highway and an integral part of thousands of military family PCS’s (moves). I think that number is too small… Now Daniel has established his own family in Grand Rapids, MI. He travels to meet and speak with military personnel. With friends stationed all over the world topics of conversation often boggle the mind of…
