This is a picture of my Dad during his time in World War 2. He was a combat veteran who served in Europe.

As I have written before, it is the simple things that trigger a memory. I was at work and someone asked me what kind of music I was listening to. After responding, my supervisor remarked that his Dad listened to Glenn Miller. That was it, my mind went back to a simpler time when that music was still new. This was the time when my dad was overseas. That lead to my remembering the song "You Should Have Seen it in Color" it is a very haunting song about a grandson asking about those old Black & White pictures in the family photo album. To see this video please click below.

After work, I pulled this up and listened to it again. The tears started to roll down my face as my mind went back to all those pictures I saw growing up. I always wondered the back story behind those pictures. I also thought, was it really a simpler time or a time with a whole other set of challenges?

Always remember that if it was not for these brave men who fought and died, none of us here today would be able to savor the sweet and precious thing we call FREEDOM!

Freedom is never free it is bought and paid for with blood of patriots!

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Long before I started this blog, I would put pen to paper. It would be my way of coping with difficult situations. I still have a lot of these notes and I will sometimes pull them out to read them. As I have said before with age comes perspective. I grew up in a simpler time, when Christmas was a special and a very sacred time. Where family and The Lord took precedence over material things.  

My parents were from the World War 2 Generation and the Great Depression. These things made them who they were, they were part of the “Greatest Generation” To their credit, they instilled in each of their children the values that shaped their lives.  

My dad did not speak much about his war time service. It was mostly is broad sweeping terms. But he did speak of the time before the battle of “The Bulge”. How on both sides would carry out a “Gentlemen’s War” They would only shell open areas of the line, they would go out on patrols and purposely not make contact with the enemy so both sides could live another day.  Then after the offensive started my dad told me about a troop truck, he saw pass by him. What caught his attention was the look of the men in that truck. As they passed him none of men spoke a word, they all were doing was looking straight ahead holding their rifles. They knew full well what lie ahead for them.  

Then also he spoke of the lost GI patrol that came upon the farmhouse deep in the Arden forest. A woman and her young son lived in the house. The GIs asked to stay the night. Then how a likewise lost German patrol found this very same farm house. Both sides put down their arms and spent the night at peace. In the morning both sides left the same way in peace.  

This reminded me of the story I heard about the Christmas of 1914 during “The Great War”.  On the days leading up to Christmas both sides slowly came out of their trenches and celebrated Christmas together. After that event, a strange thing happened...men who only a day before would have shot and killed each other, now even when ordered to would not kill their fellow man! They had been forever changed and could not take up arms against their “enemy”.  They had seen the true meaning of the season, the glorious celebration of the birth of our Risen Savior, The Prince of Peace, Jesus my Lord and personal Savior.  

As much as I love this time of the year, I long so much for His return when he will reign on earth and they will beat their swords into pruning hooks and their shield into plow shares.   When men will no longer have to take up arms against one another!  

Below you will find a link to a commercial that celebrates that Christmas truce all those years ago. Also, if you want to read more about this please read the book Silence Night (click here to see the book at Amazon)

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If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you will know Michelle and I have been married for over 20 years. I do not know any people who go into marriage thinking they are going to get a divorce ( we did not).
 
So, on that fateful day, you look into the eyes of the love of your life and make a vow to them. First off what is a vow? It is a promise to the other person. In our case, it was a vow we made to each other and to The Lord. A promise that should not be broken. We both took our vows very seriously.
 
Over the years storms have come and gone. There have been countless times I did not “like” Michelle and for her, it was the same. There have been times when each of us has stormed off mad. But over all the years we ALWAYS followed one rule. Never go to bed mad at the other. At times it is not easy, but we do not violate that rule.  At those times I wanted to walk out, but where would I go? She is my Mechelle, she is a part of me, like a hand or foot. It would be easier to cut off a hand then walk out on her. You may think this is melodramatic but for us, it is the truth.
 
So the question I have to ask, did you really mean the words you spoke that day??

​The iconic song “Country Roads” by John Denver has a special meaning to both of us. This is due to the song intersecting both of our lives multiple times spanning a time period of over thirty years. Dating back to before we ever met.

For me the date was June 1984, I was living in New Jersey. I get a copy of a photographic magazine. Inside I find an article about cave photography. Intrigued, I reread the article several times. I kept thinking about the article and I sent a letter requesting more information. A few weeks later I get a standard information packet from the national cave organization. It was nice but it did not give me any local contacts.  Fast forward a year to 1985, I get a letter from a local cave club in New Jersey.  I called them and started going with them to explore some wild caves. All this time they talked in glowing term of the BIG CAVES in West Virginia. Finally,  they formed a trip to Lewisburg WV.  On the 8 hour trip down they played Country Roads over and over. When our vehicle crossed the state line, I started to understand. The more time I spent in WV the harder it was to leave. My heart was so sad when I crossed the line to head back to New Jersey.   I never forgot my time in West Virginia, I went on several more trips there. Each time I fell more deeply in love with that special place.

That same year Michelle was in basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey and took a field trip to Fort Monmouth, which was only 4 miles from my house. That was her first time that far away from her WV home she loved. It was her first time in NJ, but not her last....

In 1998, I went on a Christian Dating site, a few days later Michelle wrote me. We talked and I found out she lived in Lewisburg, WV. I told her I was there in 1985 caving, she was not impressed. We talked, fell in love and I drove down to meet her face to face. We got married later that year, and she moved to New Jersey, we lived there for 8 years. But her heart was in a place south of New Jersey, in those sweet mountains of West Virginia. For me the tug to move to WV kept getting stronger. We played "County Roads" to death on our CD player as we both dreamed of some day returning to WV.  When we were doing the final part of the remodeling in the condo before the big move we made a CD of WV songs.  Different versions of "Country Roads" was on it.  That CD is what kept us going when we just wanted to give up.

In 2006 we moved to Kingwood, WV and never looked back. We live on a farm high in the mountains. Life is hard here, but we love it. This is where those country roads took us home. To the place our heart will always belong......