Home

At Christmas, more than any other time of year we are overwhelmed with thoughts of home and warmth...of people and places, some lost to us, some only shrouded in the mists of ever more distant memory...yet a time when here and now...love, friendship, and warmth are clear and distinct as a brightly burning beacon. More than any other time of year, Christmas crystallizes our emotions into one distinct and unique feeling. That blend of love, anticipation, expectation, joy and, especially as we grow older, poignancy that is Christmas.

My favorite Christmas memory is of coming home to spend Christmas with my family my first year in the military. It was 1969. I was a 19 year old country boy. Never away from home for more than a few days until that year. Never on a plane until Ft. Wood was full and a jet took me far away to Ft. Ord, Ca. for basic training. Coming home, and Christmas, had never before meant as much to me as in 1969. And my heart had never felt as heavy as when I had to leave and return to Ft. Gordon and an uncertain future the first day of 1970.

And this Christmas, my heart is heavy with thoughts of the thousands of young men and women who are away from home now serving in our military around the world. I know how they must feel. I wish they could all be home. I wish there wasn't any need for them to be in harm's way, yet I know that all of us are in harm's way without them. And my heart goes out to them and I wish them safety, and pride in the honor that they do all of us with their sacrifice.

Have a safe and Merry Christmas and lets pray...next year...Home!