The further away I’ve gotten from my active duty days, the more important Veteran’s Day has become. As of today I’ve been retired off active duty for 15 years and Veteran’s Day has become the day I consider “my” holiday, as well as “the” holiday for my fellow veterans and those still serving.
Another season passed, another season beginning. It has been a very busy summer here in the Virginia edition of the Charest family. We started with refinancing our house the evening before leaving on a three week trip to China. Upon our return home; the rest of the summer was a blur of recovering from our vacation trip, work, boating, really hot weather, earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding rainstorms, and several groups of family visitors.
Winter seems to finally be at an end. Daily temperatures are slowly climbing back up, trees are beginning to show blossoms. We’re having rain instead of snow. All-in-all, things are looking up.
Another year passed, a new year ahead. Another time to sing Auld Lang Syne and celebrate the western world’s marking the start of a new year. All things considering, this is as good a day as any to take a few moments to reflect on the year passed, and what may lie ahead.
Once again we’re wrapping up another month and rapidly moving into the holiday seasons. Thanksgiving Day has come and gone with the last of the turkey leftovers are in today’s lunchtime sandwich. The trees are finally bare of leaves, we’ve cut the grass for the last time this year, and we have next spring’s gardening to look forward to.
It’s just another late autumn day here in Northern Virginia, out on the edge of our nation’s capital.
I may have mentioned this in the past, but I really like Thanksgiving Day. In fact, it’s become my favorite holiday. Notwithstanding that my doctor recently assured me that I was in good health “for a man my age,” just knowing that I have another annual holiday for the chance to give thanks is a good thing.
So, as in year’s past, I want to list the many things Winnie and I are giving thanks for this past year.
Well, it’s Halloween night once again. The ghosts and goblins are out and about, mixing in with the little kids going door to door asking for candy. It’s also the end of the month, well into autumn, and the leaves are littering the lawn daring me to rake them up, knowing full well that if I do, there’ll just be more on the ground tomorrow. So far, I’ve resisted the dare.
Today, Winnie officially became an American citizen. At a 2:00PM Citizenship Oath Ceremony in the Fairfax USCIS center, Winnie did take the oath of Citizenship and became an American.
Here it is already September, the long hot n’ Dry summer almost passed. Although I enjoy warm weather, these past two months were almost too much of a good thing. And in the category of “here we go again,” we have a hurricane watch just days after the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The more things change…
I’ve really been missing not having a boat of my own these past few months. Sure, I’ve gotten out on the water sailing several times, but being in a rented sailboat is not quite the same thing as having a boat of my own. I’ve also been looking at doing something different for a while now, a different kind of boating.
Well, last week Friday, I took the plunge, and with Winnie’s approval bought a single-seated sporting kayak.
