During the stand at the cemetary today.  A poem started coming to me.  I had a hard time trying to remember it.  But, a snippet:

Black tree standing against a darkened sky. 
You are only sleeping. You did not die. 
The same as this soul we return to the earth. 
Lord, take it on home and reward its worth.

The cemetary is often difficult when taps is played and the 21 gun salute is done.  Today, there was a point when the sobs (from the mother, I think) were able to be heard from a good distance. That was difficult.  Sharyn stood beside me… and fought back tears.  It is never an easy thing.

When we arrived today, I started to introduce Sharyn to one of the guys who I have done a couple missions with.  He said something like, “You’re not with HIM are you,” to Sharyn in jest.  She said, “It depends on what you mean by ‘with’.  I rode here with him, but I’m not *with* him.”Later, she was trying to get back to where I was standing holding her flag and needed to pass between him and another.  I didn’t hear what he said.But, as she approached, I heard her say something like, “We’re *not* together.” Later, he said he thought maybe we were brother and sister or something, the way she got offended.  She always makes a point of making sure that people know we’re not a couple. It’s an issue… or important to her in some way.I have my theories.

So…. today was another PGR mission. This one being close to my home and on Veterans Day, I didn’t want to miss it even though it was supposed to be cool and rain. It certainly rained.  Each one of these missions has an emotional aspect, as well as a certain degree of education.  There were quite a few moments of note today. Sharyn wanted to attend one of the missions to see if it was something she wants to do.  So, she met up with me not far from  my home.  She had hit rain on the way here and needed to get her raingear on; which made us arrive later than intended, but still in time to make the staging area. We headed for the funeral home and set up to stand honor guard.  We had about 30 motorcycles (some 2-up) and people in 6 or 8 support vehicles.

This time, each soldier that was there walked down the row and shook each person’s hand, thanking us for our support.  One particularly emotional moment was when the young son (perhaps 4 years old) of the fallen soldier walked down the row wanting to know each of our names and shaking our hands.  That was tough.  One of the honorable moments was when we noticed that townsfolk were starting to gather, with their own flags and umbrellas.  As we rode the escort to the funeral home, there were many, many people in Follansbee who stood along the route to honor this soldier.  The local fire department hoisted a flag on the bucket of one of their ladder trucks.  It was nice to see the town support not only the soldier, but to join in what we try to do to support the soldiers.

Along the route to the cemetary, we passed through Eldersville, PA, where a “Christmas In The Village” Festival was taking place. The people there, likewise, stopped their festivities and gave their attention to our procession.  Some stood silent. Some clapped.  Some stood at attention or with their hands over their hearts.  Some saluted.  It was good to see.

During the day, many people thanked us for our support.  One personal moment that stands out for me was when the mother wanted to thank us for attending.  She walked to me as I was getting ready to head for home.  She hugged me for what seemed like several minutes, and said, “Thank you,” and said, “He would have loved it.  He would have been grinning from ear to ear.”Those kinds of moments — and that like the young son — are very difficult.  But, I would do it again in a moment.

Yesterday was a decent day.  Today was a decent day.  Tomorrow is supposed to be better.  Saturday is rain and cool. Yesterday, I cut my day short and did a Patriot Guard Rider escort from the Pittsburgh Airport to Follansbee, WV for a local soldier killed in Afghanistan.  The funeral is Saturday…. when the cool weather and rain are coming.

Today, Sharyn called to go riding this morning, but I needed to get some work done and had an appointment already scheduled for the morning.  I might try to run some errands on the bike tomorrow, but have work to do then also.

Am really tired and not feeling well.

Merry Thanksgivoween

I’m beginning to really hate the holidays.  It used to be that there were defined holidays.  They meant something.  Now, we have stores marketing the holidays before the previous one has even arrived.  People putting up Christmas trees the day after Halloween.  I don’t like the idea of new laws.  But, I’m so disgusted with the trend, I think I might just support a law saying that a holiday can’t be advertised more than 29 days previous to said holiday.

In addition, the holidays are largely just about “give me my loot” and nothing more.

The New Face of “True Love”

I have been seeing these ads on Myspace.  They are focusing on things like “Naughty or Nice” in their ads.  I suppose this is a new version of  “Love”.  The person who thought up this ad series must have been thinking, “Find a hot chick, focus on (exploit) her body, and call it love.  They’ll fall for it.”   

They should just call it “Find Sex Free” and be honest about it.

I had been watching the weather because it was supposed to be in the mid 60’s today and a nice sunny day for riding the motorcycle.  I thought it would probably be the last day of the year for riding. So, I figured I would ask a couple of people about riding today.  I talked to Sharyn last night when she called about something else and she mentioned it, so I told her that I was planning to go today.  The others were either not available or didn’t answer (including a woman from a “biker” friends site I joined) so it was just Sharyn and me.

Before the ride, I needed to get some business work done this morning: run some errands, make some phone calls, etcetera. As I was on my way back home this morning, I stopped at the local 7-11 to play the lottery.  When I left there, I pulled up to a stop sign and noticed a woman walking along the road. Something was odd about her, but I couldn’t tell what it was at first.  After a couple of seconds I noticed she was walking sort of oddly and had a baseball cap in her right hand which she was flipping from side to side. She appeared to be about 60 or a little under — 5’8″ or so, grey hair, medium build –and was carrying something in the left arm.  As I waited for traffic to clear, she was getting closer to me and all of a sudden stepped out into the road about 2 or 3 feet as a car was going through the turn.  The car went into the center lane to clear her. As more cars passed, she kept stepping into the lane and walking on the edge of the road.  When the road cleared, I started to pull out and was watching her so that I didn’t hit her if she stepped out again.  As I approached her, she lifted her sweater with her right hand and started rubbing her breast in a sexually provocative manner and I thought she was about to take her breast out of her bra as I passed her.  I called the local police and reported her behavior, but I don’t know if anything was done about it.

When I arrived home, I got ready, left, and met up with Sharyn not far from her place so that we could go riding. She moved her day around because of some troubles in her business and we had a nice ride. We went back to a nice little ice cream parlor/restaurant that we went to before.  The same waitresses were there.  A different one waited on us this time, but the one from last time was there. I think she is pretty and wouldn’t mind getting to know her, but I don’t know her age or anything about her.

Today was the first day riding with a full-face helmet.  One thing I noticed is that they are **noisy**.  I thought the noise was bad from the wind, but with the full-face helmet, it’s even worse. It’s a good thing I always have ear-plugs with me.  I wear them with my half-helmet, but they are even more necessary with the full-face.  I would have expected just the opposite.  There are things I like about the full-face, and things I don’t. I like the full face a little better for the cooler weather.  It keeps your head warmer without the need to wear head covering.  It makes it a little harder for my glasses, but I like that I don’t need to have my clear fitover glasses at night.  The fit of the full-face is a little harder to get sitting right.  If it doesn’t sit just right, it causes a headache.  And, it’s heavier and made my neck feel strained. Oh well…. “6 of one, half-dozen of another,” as they say.

It was a nice ride, though.

Thanks to my MySpace friend Shawn, I was introduced to this music and I like it.

http://www.myspace.com/sidestreny 

Women Know Your Place

http://glumbert.com/media/women

It’s funny at least.

Even when I try to be friendly with people that I know, I am left feeling out of place and that there is no place for me. I have been told that I’m not friendly acting.  When I try to be more accessible and caring to those who are “friends”…. I am left feeling like they couldn’t care if I exist. Until they want something, that is.