Mom’s and Their Babies at Christmas

Editorial note: Play the video for the full emotional effect of this post while you read.

My own Mom passed away in 1993. It still seems like just a few weeks or months ago, never years or even a decade. She died in her sleep and I will never forget what the Priest said at her service. Louise is dancing with Kings. He offered that analogy because she crossed over with a smile on her face. To this very day that is the one memory I cherish most when I think of my Mom. I remember her smile whenever she looked at me her baby in my mind. No matter where I am, no matter what I am doing, I can feel that love and smile and it makes the world an easier place to deal with.

Many years later in 2003, my wife’s Mom passed away. My wife was crushed and devastated. Her mother was her world and as much as they argued and fought and laughed together they both would run through a burning building to save the other. Judy loved her daughter with all of her heart and the grand children loved their Grammy. But the love her Mom had for her baby was priceless and you could not match it. The two of them were inseperable.

Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are hard when the Mom’s are no longer around. One thing is certain, Mom’s never stop loving their babies and Blake Shelton nailed the heartbreak that many people feel that have lost their Mom…



I’m not ashamed as a man to say that I cried when I first saw this video. It brought back to me so many memories of what I would have done different in my own life. Regrets for harsh words when I needed to be set straight. It made me sorry for all the stupid things I did when I thought I ruled the world. I loved my Mom with all of my heart and this time of year I miss her more than ever. Christmas has not been the same without my Mom or my Wife’s Mom in the world. And yet, we know that they are watching over us. Mom’s are forever and thankfully so! We love you Mom and miss you. Always in our prayers.

Thank you Blake Shelton for this song!

Papamoka

Dedicated to my wife’s Mom Judie Curtin Poulin
and my Mom Louise Courtney O’Keefe... We love you and miss you...

Staff Sergeant Daniel A. Newsome

My heart felt prayers are with this young mans family that is left behind. He served his nation and joined the ranks of many brave young men and woman that have paid the ultimate price in service to our nation. There are no greater words to say than a simple thank you to his family.

Just as an outside observer I appreciate the fact that our Governor, Deval Patrick is taking a personal stance on our sons and daughters lost to us in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some people might choose to call it politics but I tend to believe that the Governor is a man of honor and respect. Respect and tribute for the life lost is what the families that are burying their dead need most. They above all need to know that the loved one lost in service to America was not just another number on a tote board.

Over at the Boston Globe they had this to say about Daniel A. Newsome and his life…


Chicopee bids farewell to another hometown soldier
By Claire L. Cummings, Globe Correspondent
July 6, 2007

CHICOPEE -- The fallen soldier's little boy smiled as Governor Deval L. Patrick gave him a comforting rub on the back. The 1-year-old, dressed in a gray Army exercise shirt and miniature camouflage pants, is already the spitting image of his father, relatives said.

As family and friends gathered yesterday to remember Army Staff Sergeant Daniel A. Newsome, they recalled that his life's mission was to raise his son to be a great man. For those who love and miss Newsome, who died June 27 in Baghdad from injuries he sustained in an explosion, it is a mission they will now make their own.

"All of us are the mold that made Dan the man he was, and though we cannot make a new Dan . . . a new Staff Sergeant Daniel Allan Newsome, we can do our best to mold and shape a man very much like him," said Eric Ritter, the soldier's stepfather. "He already looks like his Daddy. His little hands and feet are Dan's. He has Dan's eyes. And when he frowns, his forehead wrinkles just like his Dad's did."

Others said the 27-year-old Newsome was a responsible leader who took his job seriously, but thrived on making people laugh. – Boston Globe

This war is taking its toll on the young people serving in our military and the toll it is taking on families is multiplied exponentially. Not one person in America will understand the loss that these families will go through over the next decades of what we all call life. Little boys, little girls, wives and husbands will go through life without the one person that was a very influential part of the small part of the world we call a family. There is only one way for any of us to understand the pain of the Newsome family and that is to bury one of our own. Something no parent, spouse or child would ever want to have to go through.

Their voice may have been silenced in death but the spirit of their life will live on. In service to our nation and with a respectful burial we as the American people need to be thankful for the sacrifice but be diligent in thought when placing our military in harms way.

Daniel will be in my prayers and thoughts along with a long list of other fallen heroes in service to America.

God Bless them all,

Papamoka

Proud Member of the Patriot Guard Riders

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