Faces, beautiful faces ... young, full of life, determination, pride. I opened my email today to see another warm, caring face of a young man. He is handsome, strong, with beautiful eyes and is wearing the obvious military green. His name is Michael. Michael. What a proud name and it really seems to fit him. Michael's mother sent me his picture so that we could make a charm of her soldier son for her.
We do soldier charms for those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. You can see them at RoseBlossomCottage.com under
A Soldier's Charm
It is our small way of paying respect and expressing gratitude. If you go to the page, you can see some of the ones that we have done through the years there. It has been such a treasure to do these for wives and mothers of our finest citizens. Often they generously share stories with me. One wanted to get her charm for the day of her first anniversary. She was spending it alone, and she wanted to sleep with it under her pillow. Another had her three little girls vying to get to wear it around the house after she got home from work. (He has since come home and is surely enjoying those little ones along with his lovely wife.) And yet another lives 40 miles from us. Her husband was in the next building when the Ft. Hood shooting happened. These wonderful ladies (and gentlemen, too!) support our heroes. For that I am forever in awe of them.
I was just telling my husband Sam how sweet the emails are. I am so struck how softly, humbly each one comes requesting a charm. They are so grateful. And yet, our efforts are such small, insignificant tokens in the scheme of things. What these soldiers and their families do is immeasurable. Yet they are grateful that we would do such a thing for them. Let me tell you, everyone I know is so thankful for our soldiers and their families. We don't always express it well or know how to let our bravest know, but we do. So God Bless each and every soldier and military family!
Well, I had better get back to work. Thank you for letting me share this passion with you. I have to get going on this next batch of charms as each one is many stepped production. We try to wait until we have many requests so they can be done at one time due to the process. But this time it will be a small batch. It has Janet's daughter, a local soldier, and Michael among them. Janet has waited long enough and Michael's must be done now. I don't want his mom to wait at all. You see, Michael is a Fallen Hero. He was killed in Kandahar at the age of 20. I am sure that Michael would appreciate us taking care of her in that respect. It is the least we can do. Yes, this is a special batch as they all are.
I will sign off with a hearty thank you to all soldiers, past and present, and their families. Without you, the 4th of July would be just another day.
And now you know, dear reader, what we mean when we say in our tagline..."Where charming is just half of the story..."
