Independence Day - 4th of July 2010!!

Okay, I know it's a week after the 4th of July, but it's still worth celebrating, no matter when I get my post in!  Nigel and I spent the day together, just the two of us, and we had a lovely time.  I did manage one productive thing - I took photos of the flags Nigel put out.  The white one is the Army flag. 

We also have an Air Force flag, but it gives way to Old Glory until we can get another flag bracket put on the house, above these two.

In the lower photo you can see Nigel's "cats".  The Fursdon family has always had cats and Nigel was determined to have a pair of these.  After looking forever for some (because I refused to pay the outrageous price most everyone wanted), I lucked out and found these two at Wal-Mart of all places!!   

 
One last photo.  This is a very special Old Glory pin I wanted to tell you about.  I bought it when Nigel was in the First Gulf War, back in 1990-1991.  A very dear friend of mine (who has since passed away), Jadene Navarro, and I were out shopping at lunch time in Nuernberg, which was then in what was considered "West" Germany.  That was where we were stationed in the Army when Nigel was sent to the Gulf, along with Jadene's husband, Jimmy, although he was in a different unit.  Anyway, because the Army units in Nuernberg had sent so many soldiers to the Gulf at that particular time, wives were always on the look-out for their husbands' favorite American items to send to them (before the PX sold out!).  So Jadene and I had a plan.  We shopped during our lunch break and also traveled to the smaller PXs located around the area.  By the way, PX stands for Post Exchange - basically an American department store, and the Commissary is our grocery store.  This not only allowed us to find items that were frequently sold out in the larger stores; it also gave us a reason to keep busy during "down time" so we wouldn't think too much about our husbands being over there.  It worked great for the most part.  One day, we were in a small PX (I'm not even sure where), and we found these two pins - just two of them.  As soon as we saw them, we knew they were meant for us.  They were so beautiful, and stood for so many things we believed in.  So naturally we purchased them and wore them daily till our husbands returned.  On the day they each returned, we wore the pins, and on every 4th of July since.  My flag also has the bittersweet memory of Jadene's loss associated with it; sometimes I just take it out of my jewelry box and look at it, remembering everything we went through, living in a foreign country, trying to raise our children as normally as possible, while our husbands were deployed to war.  Sometimes people forget how special this flag is; they take it, and everything it stands for, for granted.  But Warriors - and their wives - never forget.  Long may She wave and may God continue to bless!   Jan