a Homecoming poem

T'was the night before homecoming
and all thru the house
everyone was excited
especially the spouse (s)

The "welcome home" banners
had been hung with great care
in hope that Nate and the other marines
would soon be there

The parents had arrived
traveling down from the north
they went to the base and
got passes to go forth

for the next day they would go
thru the gates at LeJeune
and wait for the bus
that would bring home the platoon

The day of homecoming dawned bright
and families gathered together
but not too many of them
even noticed the weather

For the balloons and banners
were much more to see
And the excitement and smiles
of each family

Then what to our wondering eyes
should appear.....
a large big bus,
Marines with their gear!!!

The shout of happy greetings
rang loudly in my ears
and the Marines were caught up
in big hugs and tears

For finally the deployment
had come to it's end
our heros are now home
with us once again!!!!!

Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg and I have a long history together, I first saw it in the early 70's when my parents took us there for a family vacation. I have always loved history and remember that trip as though it were yesterday.

When Ed and I were first married we went to visit my sister (who was living in Virginia) and took a day to visit Williamsburg. Ed fell in love with it and to this day, it is one of his most favorite places in the world. Keeping with "tradition" we have taken many family vacations there, Kas and Sadie know the "city" well. Now that Kas is living in North Carolina, Ed and I always have the perfect excuse to visit Williamsburg whenever we are in the "south".

After we got the dates of Nate's homecoming, Ed and I decided to take a few extra days to visit "our" Williamsburg on our way down to North Carolina. It was as wonderful as it has always been and though it was a little strange visiting without the girls, we had a grand time walking around the "city" and enjoying all the sights and sounds.


For anyone that likes history, or just being around "days of the past" Williamsburg is a must see. The people of the town stay in complete charterer, and any conversations that you have with them, will be done as though it were the 1700's. They don't seem to "understand" things like, "we live in Maine" (Maine wasn't a state back then)... or telling them it took you 12 hours to drive there (they think you have some special breed of horse and buggy!!!) Discussions about the upcoming revolution (which side you are on) is important, as well as "how your crops are doing" or who/what is the latest arrival from England.

They do the work of the "time" .....blacksmith, wheelwright, grocery, shoe maker, saddle maker... etc. etc. and they encourage their guests to take a hands on approach as well. Cars are not allowed in the "city" (though many of the folks that work there, do live there) so, when you walk the streets, you may have to step over for the carriage or ox & cart that pass by. If it weren't for all the other folks that are dressed in modern day clothes or the groups of school kids that walk about, it would be very easy to forget what year you were really in.

Something that is fairly new to Colonial Willaimsburg is the computer age. If you go to their website there are all kinds of things to do and see, almost as interesting as the old city itself. One of the things they have are web cams in certain spots of the city. Ed loves to check them out and before we went, he had figured out where a few of them were. So, as we walked about the town, and using our cell phones, we were able to have friends and family watch us!!!! At one point, we got Kassy on the phone, and she was on the computer with Nate!!! Nate then went to the website and was able to spot us in Williamsburg!!!! It was just so hard for me to wrap my brain around that one!!!! I even went and found a colonial citizen and had him come into the camera's view for Nate to see. You can be sure our "colonial citizen" was some surprised when I told him... "You were just seen in Iraq!!!"It was a great way for us to begin our vacation and it will only get better as the days move along...our next stop.... Camp LeJeune!!!!!