A DAY I WILL NEVER FORGET

When my wife and I decided on Hawaii as our honeymoon destination I had one demand WE HAVE TO GO TO PEARL HARBOR! I know how life is and I didn’t know if we would ever return to Hawaii and I did not want to miss out on seeing a major part of US history. What I did not expect was our visit to Pearl Harbor to be an emotional life changing experience.

My wife could seriously be a professional Hawaiian travel agent. She booked on her own so of the greatest trips for us in Hawaii and Pearl Harbor was no different. About the only bad thing about the trip is we had to get up at 5:00am to catch a flight from Kauai to Oahu. When we arrived at Pearl Harbor the day begin with an amazing surprise. Our tour guide pointed to a gigantic air craft carrier. He informed us that is was the U.S.S. Carl Vinson was docked at Pearl Harbor. The ship arrived the night before. It was the ships first return to U.S. soil. Seeing any active air craft carrier would be cool, but what made this one so special was that the U.S.S. Carl Vinson was the ship Osama Bin Laden’s body was dumped off of.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43322149/ns/us_news-security/t/ship-buried-bin-laden-docks-pearl-harbor/

I am not one to celebrate a death or take joy in it. In fact I am against the death penalty. I can’t explain the logic in it, or defend the hypocrisy, but I was very happy that we got Bin Laden. It was a moving and chilling honor to see the ship and the brave men and women who serve on it, in fact at one point we were about 15 feet away from it.

That would be enough for one day but the day got better. We sat down to watch a video about World War II and the attacks on Pearl Harbor. I have been a World War II junkie since third grade, however much of my focus has always been on the Europe side following the Holocaust. Once the video was over we were instructed to board a small Navy ship that would take us over to the USS Arizona. I was already a bit emotional to this point, just thinking about all the brave soldiers, my families long military history, and what I was about to see. Sandy and I sat down and then it happened. An older gentleman boarded the ship wearing his Navy hat decorated with many medals and pins highlighting his service. As he boarded it was announced that he was a survivor of the U.S.S. Arizona. His name was Allen Bodenlos, he sat down right next to Sandy and I and I lost it, I just started sobbing.

The boat traveled to the Arizona and Allen was saluted and allowed to get off the boat first. He traveled to the back to look at the list of his friends who did not survive the attacks. Nobody went into that part of the memorial until he was done. I found out his back story. Allen was a part of the ships band. He was off the ship to get some music supplies. He returned just a

s the big bomb dropped on the Arizona. Allen ended up serving i

n World War

II and did two tours in Korea.

When he finished looking at the wall I walked up to him, I didn’t want to disturb him, but I felt I had to meet him. I asked him if I could take a picture with him and he said he would love to. I told him thank you for all that he has done for our country and all he has sacrificed. Finally, I told him God Bless You! He replied He already has. I again begin to sob (you had to be there, VERY emotional).

I did not realize that the Arizona still was so close to the surface. Seeing the ship, the oil bubbling to the surface, you could feel the presence of the past. I never heard people young and old so silent and almost gasping for air. Everyone visiting was floored. Sadness quickly turned to pride with our final stop on the tour.

U.S.S. Missouri, the ship Japan surrendered on. Words do no justice to the feeling of pride and awe I felt standing on the same ship, in the same spot that General McArthur stood as Japan surrendered to the United States.

Pearl Harbor is a must for any person who visits Hawaii. I don’t care what island you go to, you MUST visit Pearl Harbor, it’s your patriotic duty! God Bless America!!!

Salvation Army Makes It a Merry Christmas

 

5:00 am and the alarm sounds. This is my day off; my alarm can’t be going off that early. When I first awoke that morning I was so tired my eyes could hardly open.  I was having a pity party in my head over a family issue, it was cold outside, and I did not want to get up. Then I looked over at the Christmas presents wrapped so nicely under our beautiful Christmas Tree.  I said to myself, time to get up. I have so much and I am able to give so much to my family, now I must give to my community. The reason for this early morning, my family and I had signed up to help hand out food and toys for the Modesto Salvation Army.  Little did any us know what an inspiring day we were about to have.

 

I have performed thousands of volunteer hours in my life, so has my wife. Nothing could prepare us for what we encountered on Saturday December 22, 2012. The Salvation Army Christmas Distribution provides holiday meals and toys for thousands of valley residents in need.  A new friend of Sandy and I, Melissa Cohoon-Neece told us about the toy collection and distribution day and invited us to attend. Sandy and I have both been looking for a volunteer opportunity to take our son Kyler to and this looked like the perfect chance.

At 6:00am we pulled up to the distribution center on Mariposa Avenue in Modesto. It was about 38 degrees outside and the wind nearly lifted me off my feet as I got out of my truck. The first thing I saw that took my breath away was hundreds of needy people lined up in their vehicles and on foot two hours before the event started all waiting for help.  As my family and I continued to walk up to the building were a bit nervous not knowing what to expect.  

As soon as we arrived we saw one of my son’s baseball teammates and family there and that provided some comfort as we waited for instruction on what we would be doing.  At about 7:30am we received some instructions from Salvation Army volunteers and staff and concluded the orientation with a story of service and prayer from Captain Pugh. Just days earlier the Salavation Army had been short nearly 1,500 toys.  In two days that recieved donations covering those 1,500 families.  So manny people form the area stepped up to make the Salvation Army goal a reality.  My mother and father and law braved the weather the day before and went and and bought toys along with many others.  

Sandy and Kyler volunteered to hand out presents to the families, and despite my shoulder killing me I volunteered to carry items out to people’s cars. I made this decision simply because I felt the organization could benefit from my physical size and strength, I did not choose this job because I was dying to do it. I simply believe when you volunteer it is important to give your best to what you are doing, even if your shoulder hurts. Little did I know what a great decision this would be.

When I dressed that morning I did not even consider the fact it would rain. I knew it would be cold and I knew I warm up quick so I dressed for that, boots, jeans, long sleeve shirt, and an outdoor vest.  When we arrived there was no rain, that would not last.

The first family I helped was a family of 8.  The shopping cart I pushed first had toys added to it, then two boxes of canned food, then milk and eggs, followed by chicken, bread, and potatoes. Once the basket was filled it was my job to take the food by cart to the vehicle of the person I was helping.  When I walked out of the warehouse and the outside world hit me in the face it was raining, hard. I helped the woman to her car which was located about a half mile away. We chatted the whole way.  Her story made me hardly feel the rain. She told me of how the family was struggling with her husband passing away and her trying to find a job.  All I kept thinking of is how much I wish I could swoop up her whole family and help them. We arrived at her car and she tried to help unload and I would not let her. When I finished loading everything into her vehicle she felt bad because the vehicle was parked in mud and my boots and bottom of my jeans were covered in mud. I told her no worries. She said Merry Christmas and God Bless You. I told her, while fighting back tears, to keep believing in the good in the world, keep her faith and things will get better. I then hugged her and battled the rain as I headed back to help the next person.

As I helped family after the family many of the stories were similar.   These were people who were facing life’s challenges and who had not given up, but simply needed a helping hand and someone to care.  After about ten trips I helped a family whose son wanted baseball stuff.  As I loaded the presents into the cart a baseball bat popped out.  I began to get really choked up. After helping the family to their car I began to cry on the way back.  To me there is nothing purer than a child and the game of baseball.  This family had made me think of my son and it made me very emotional.  Another woman I helped to her car hit me hard emotionally.  As I opened the side door to her van I was taken back by four little children. The van was covered with blankets, and a makeshift kitchen was set up in the tiny corner. This family was living in the van.  The husband had lost his job and the family had lost their house. They felt ashamed and I felt for them.  All I could do was hug both of them and tell them there are people who care. I told them many of us, me included are one paycheck away from being in the same position and not everyone has someone to bail them out. That was another hard vehicle. One woman simply broke my heart as I helped her out.

While others had battled the weather in their vehicles this woman had not. She spoke almost no English so communicating was tough. When we got outside I asked her where her vehicle was and she said here, pointing to where she was standing.  I stood for a couple of seconds confused thinking we were waiting for someone to pull up in a vehicle, but then she said basket, pointing to the basket she was pulling. She had no car and no one to help her. She wanted me to load everything on to this very frail and old basket. Only the box of food fit, but I stacked everything on and we tied it down. Then she said walking and started to walk away. As she walked through the overpowering rain, potholes, and mud, I was simply numb. To need so bad you would endure such conditions was so amazing to me and made me think how lucky I am.

Along the way I bumped into about 9 students of mine from one of the programs I coordinate for single parents. I was really enjoying talking to all the people. They were so thankful and all I was doing was carrying some stuff for them. I never enjoyed saying Merry Christmas so much. After about three hours of battling the wind, mud, rain, and covering miles of parking lot my body began to hurt.  The funny thing is the more my body hurt the more my heart felt warm.  As the line of people was dwindling down and my body was throbbing, I thought to myself, you have done a lot you can call it a day. I was wrong.

BottomJust as I thought this I looked to the elderly man I had seen all day.  He had a slumped over walk, he wore denim jeans and denim shirt.  His hair was thick and pure white.  His face never had a smile, yet just by looking at him you could tell he was a worker.  He was easily in his late 60’s if not older.  He started at 6:00am when I did and at 12:30pm he was still going strong.  I looked over at him and said to myself if he is still working, I am still working.  With that I worked another 30 minutes until there were no more people in line to help. 

As I put my cart away I walked up to my wife who had a beautiful smile on her face, my son was playing with his friend, and I had the greatest feeling of satisfaction I have ever had.  This is what life is about giving and helping.  I have known that, taught that, and lived that for years but it had been some time since I experienced it like this.  As always, God put me in the right place at the right time. God showed me again what is so special in about life and the spirit of people.  My family and I were thanked by countless staff, including our friend Melissa.  I feel I owe them a thank you! I am now a huge supporter of the Salvation Army and so are several of my friends who want to join us next year.   Because of the Salvation Army it truly will be a Merry Christmas for all and to all a good night! 

 

Photos Courtesy of Melissa Cohoon-Neece

 

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WORLD STOPPED TURNING

I could feel the heat hitting my face as the sun pushed its way through my window. It was almost time for me to get up and go to school, but I was not rising out of bed just yet. I could hear the muffled sounds of KAT Country radio as my mind started it’s descend from dream world back to reality. Then as clear as could be I heard the voice on the radio say “America is under Attack”. I rose from my bed out my bedroom and into the family room. I fumbled with the remotes as I turned on the television. As the television came on I saw the second plane hit the second tower and my jaw dropped (I would later learn that was not the live shot). I raced outside to grab my older brother who was preparing to leave from work. We both watched on television with utter disbelief. America was under attack and it would never be the same again.

I was supposed to be at school, Modesto Junior College at 9:35am, I made it in around 11:00am. My outfit represented my emotions; I wore on my head a bandana of the American Flag. I was VERY angry and VERY hurt. Like most Americans half of me wanted to crouch down in a corner and cry and the other half wanted to kick someone’s ass! When I arrived at school most were still numb. Many were sharing feeling of sorrow, some were concerned, and some were taking this time to voice opinions. There was one thing that separated me from my fellow students that day; I was the Student Body President. This meant I had a role to play that included certain duties and responsibilities, but I was not in the mood to be president. I had also only been on the job for about 2 weeks.

Call it American Pride, Call it a light bulb going off, or call it as Oprah would an ah ha moment, but that day changed me forever. It laid the foundation for the person I would become and laid to rest the person I used to be. I was 24 years of age that day so maybe the timing was just right, but I was done taking things for granted any longer. I will explain more later.

That day is a haze of memories for me. Some I can remember with crystal clear clarity while others are like a hazy dream. I remember standing at the flag pole in the middle of campus and just staring at the flag. I hurt was filled with so much pain. I remember going to classes and talking about things and my teacher’s worried face at how hard I was taking it. I remember an email from a campus administrator saying that the day would go on with business as usual, obviously it did not. My most vivid memory of that day however, was my drive home from school.

As I left the campus the radio played. I was listening to the president’s speech, members of congress, but it was a report of loved ones receiving calls from family members trapped in the twin towers that caused me to pull my car over on the 99 freeway and begin to cry like I had never cried before. The reports had stated that people had called from the Twin Towers to their loved ones and told them they were not going to make it. That just destroyed me. When I finally got home that night I watched the news until I passed out on the couch.

The next morning when I awoke I thought maybe it had been a dream, but as the television continued to show highlights of a nightmare I could not wake up from. I got dressed and headed off to school. When I arrived at school I was upset because there was no television for students to watch the unfolding of this tragedy on. I made arrangements for a television and food to be set up for students. I was later summoned to a meeting where campus leaders would discuss how the campus would respond. I t was decided a vigil would be held five days later.

On September 18, 2001 I spoke at two vigils at Modesto Junior College. At the time it was the most emotional and terrifying thing at I ever had to do. I had only been Student Body President for 3 weeks; I had never given a speech to more than 25 people. I struggled for days to find the words that would do justice. I had to capture what happened, I had to hell stop people form reacting from fear, and I had to represent 16,000 students. End the end it was a speech teacher that inspired the final direction of my speech. He told me to write as if I was the President of the United States and I was speaking the world from my heart. This is what I wrote:

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, and Administration,

September 11, 2001 is a day forever etched in our minds. This is a tragedy not easily overcome, not that any are. This was not the first time our right to freedom has been challenged, and it may not be the last. President Bush has stated, “Terrorists can shake the foundation biggest buildings, but they cannot shake the foundation of America.” Our forefathers dreamed an impossible dream and made it a reality for all. FREEDOM is what they fought for and to this day, we still protect. This is truly the United States darkest hour, but we will prevail, as did our forefathers. We must now shift our emotions and feelings. No longer can we focused on what happened, no longer can we point fingers. We must now come together as families, communities, and states and as a country. We must join hands and send a message that the United States and democracy as we live it will never fall. Fear is normal, but we must not let fear turn to hate. This is not a time to hate; this is a time to heal. Let us learn from our mistakes of the past and not repeat them in the future. We are a campus of diverse natures. Different ethics, and religions, but we all have one thing in common, the love for our country. We must not let the terrorists divide us, if we do, then they have won. Today is a day when all of us, from every walk of life must unite as one and let freedom ring.

When I finished speaking my eyes were filled with tears, I walked from the stage and collapsed into the arms of our chancellor. The pain was deep. The next day I got to work changing my life for the better. From that day on I said I love you to family and friends all the time. I hugged everyone. My grades improved, my work ethic completely changed. I was a new person. One year later I stood at the flag pole as a led a ceremony for the one year anniversary of the attacks. We dedicated the flag pole and placed a bronze eagle on top and a plaque at the base. I was a new more confident person with a purpose in life.

As the years have come and gone I have been disappointed at the lack of attention the anniversaries have received. I have said each year to my friends we should be doing more to remember the 343 Firefighters and thousands of others lost that day. They are the heroes and they deserve our attention each year, they deserve to be remembered and we should never forget! For me I will never forget, I think about that day at least weekly. I have always said it was the day that changed me. Today, ten years later it hurts as much as it did that did, but seeing the memorial going up in New York and seeing people have faith inspires me. My world is not even close to the same as it was that day, it is a billion times better, but I will always always remember and never forget that day, the day the world stopped turning.

A Day I Will Remember Forever

When my wife and I decided on Hawaii as our honeymoon destination I had one demand WE HAVE TO GO TO PEARL HARBOR! I know how life is and I didn’t know if we would ever return to Hawaii and I did not want to miss out on seeing a major part of US history. What I did not expect was our visit to Pearl Harbor to be an emotional life changing experience.

My wife could seriously be a professional Hawaiian travel agent. She booked on her own so of the greatest trips for us in Hawaii and Pearl Harbor was no different. About the only bad thing about the trip is we had to get up at 5:00am to catch a flight from Kauai to Oahu. When we arrived at Pearl Harbor the day begin with an amazing surprise. Our tour guide pointed to a gigantic air craft carrier. He informed us that is was the U.S.S. Carl Vinson was docked at Pearl Harbor. The ship arrived the night before. It was the ships first return to U.S. soil. Seeing any active air craft carrier would be cool, but what made this one so special was that the U.S.S. Carl Vinson was the ship Osama Bin Laden’s body was dumped off of.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43322149/ns/us_news-security/t/ship-buried-bin-laden-docks-pearl-harbor/

I am not one to celebrate a death or take joy in it. In fact I am against the death penalty. I can’t explain the logic in it, or defend the hypocrisy, but I was very happy that we got Bin Laden. It was a moving and chilling honor to see the ship and the brave men and women who serve on it, in fact at one point we were about 15 feet away from it.

That would be enough for one day but the day got better. We sat down to watch a video about World War II and the attacks on Pearl Harbor. I have been a World War II junkie since third grade, however much of my focus has always been on the Europe side following the Holocaust. Once the video was over we were instructed to board a small Navy ship that would take us over

to the USS Arizona. I was already a bit emotional to this point, just thinking about all the brave soldiers, my families long military history, and what I was about to see. Sandy and I sat down and then it happened. An older gentleman boarded the ship wearing his Navy hat decorated with many medals and pins highlighting his service. As he boarded it was announced that he was a survivor of the U.S.S. Arizona. His namewas Allen Bodenlos, he sat down right next to Sandy and I and I lost it, I just started sobbing.

The boat traveled to the Arizona and Allen was saluted and allowed to get off the boat first. He traveled to theback to look at the list of his friends who did not survive the attacks. Nobody went intothat part of the memorial until he was done. I found out his back story.

Allen was a part of the ships band. He was off the ship to get some music supplies. He returned just as the big bomb dropped on the Arizona. Allen ended up serving in World War II and did two tours in Korea. When he finished looking at the wall I walked up to him, I didn’t want to disturb him, but I felt I had to meet him. I asked him if I could take a picture with him and he said he would love to. I told him thank you for all that he has done for our country and all he has sacrificed. Finally, I told him God Bless You! He replied He already has. I again begin to sob (you had to be there, VERY emotional).

I did not realize that the Arizona still was so close to the surface. Seeing the ship, the oil bubbling to the surface, you could feel the presence of the past. I never heard people young and old so silent and almost gasping for air. Everyone visiting was floored. Sadness quickly turned to pride with our final stop on the tour.

U.S.S. Missouri, the ship Japan surrendered on. Words do no justice to the feeling of pride and awe I felt standing on the same ship, in the same spot that General McArthur stood as Japan surrendered to the United States.

Pearl Harbor is a must for any person who visits Hawaii. You must visit Pearl Harbor, it's your Patriotic duty! God Bless America. Pearl Harbor is a day that I remember forever!

My Life Has Come Full Circle

I was four years old the first time I remember hearing his voice. My Mom told me about the time she saw him in concert when she was pregnant with me. She said that and the fact that my grandma had his record playing when my Mom first brought me home from the hospital is why I was such a fan. Elvis Presley has been my favorite singer my entire life. It is funny how life runs full circle.

My love of Elvis came on three levels, one the most obvious, I like his music. I have never heard a sound like Elvis. It doesn’t matter if he was young Elvis, overweight Elvis, or movie Elvis, the fact is Elvis Presley could sing, his voice was simply AMAZING!!! My favorite Elvis song is That's All Right Mamma and Trouble. Today, most young artist now little about Elvis, but they should know that they owe a great deal of their success to him. As John Lennon once said"There was Elvis and then everyone else".

The second reason is the story of Elvis’s upbringing. Elvis is the American Dream. Elvis was born in a 1 room shack in Tupelo, Mississippi. His family struggles to survive during his entire childhood. It wasn’t until Elvis made it big that his parents were even able to eat an entire meal. Person after person told Elvis he would never make, his music and rock n roll for that matter was just a fad. Elvis never let any of that stop him form pursuing his dream. God meant for Elvis to be who he was. The first time Elvis went in to a studio to record a record the secretary at Sun Records thought he had a unique sound and kept a recorded sample. Elvis waited almost daily by the phone, but it would be 5 months before it rang. Sun Records owner Sam Phillips had Elvis come in to try some recordings with Guitarist Scotty Moore and Bassist Bill Black. The recorded for nearly 7 hours. Exhausted, tired, and hearing nothing that he really like Phillips told everyone to take a break while he went into the next room to get more tape. Elvis was nervous and scared. Moore tried to settle Elvis by getting him just to “jam” a bit. Elvis broke into That’s All Right Mamma. Phillips flipped and ran back into the booth to record it. Phillips took a copy over to Dewey Phillips Radio Show. The played That’s All Right Mamma 19 times on the radio and Elvis’s life was never the same. All though it would be a couple of years before he was a household name.

The third reason that I like Elvis so much has to do with my Mom. Our mutual love for Elvis was a bond we shared right up until she passed away. I would play my Mom’s Elvis records and 8 tracks for hours at a time. My Mom actual met Elvis one time and he kissed her on the cheek. Her best friend at the time ended up dating one of Elvis’s body guards and went on tour with him. My mom would often call me every time there was an Elvis movie or special on and she often got me various Elvis gifts. On of my greatest memories is her having the chance to see me play Elvis in a play I did in college, she was so excited.

My love for Elvis came full circle when celebrating my marriage to my beautiful wife. We honeymooned in Hawaii and stay on Kauai. Kauai is home to the legendary Coco Palms hotel where Elvis filmed his 1961 classic Blue Hawaii. The hotel was literally about 400 yards from where we were staying. The only problem was a hurricane in 2001 leveled the hotel and it has not been repaired since. My wife and I took a bike ride down to the hotel; I thought at best I would take a picture in front of the hotel sign, at least that’s what I told my wife. I had every intention of jumping the fence or sneaking in some how, I had to stand where Elvis stood, I could not pass that up.

Lucky for my wife who didn’t want to bail me out of jail on our honeymoon, there was a sign that said there were tours of the hotel still available. We called the number and set up a tour for 2pm that day. Just the two of us and another guy showed up so it was like having our own private tour. The property manager was giving tours just make a little more money. Most of the hotel was condemned, but to me it was the Hawaii equivalent of Graceland (a place I have yet to visit). He had known Elvis and knew the place. He took us to the room that Elvis stayed in and I stood right where Elvis’s bed had been..no comment. He took us to the dining room where Elvis had his own table in the corner and much to our surprise we found out that part of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was filmed there. Johnny Depp is my favorite actor was that was an added plus. But the best part of the tour came when we stood at the front of the famous lagoon where Elvis was married in Blue Hawaii. Sandy and I stood there, kissed, and then took a picture (That ended up being the picture we used on our thank you cards). I felt like a kid at Disneyland and as weird as some people might think it, I could swear I felt Elvis there as well as my Mom.

The experience was incredible on so many levels. Later that night I showed the movie Blue Hawaii to my wife Sandy and she was excited to see all the spots in the movie we had just visited. That made my love for Elvis even more special. A bond that I had once shared with my Mom I now shared with my wife. She loves the place now and we plan to re-new our vows there on our 5 year anniversary. My life has come fully circle!

The Glass is Half Full

Each day I get up and I thank God that I get up. Most days I jump out of bed and attack my day. In the shower I mental go through what it is that I wish to accomplish. Like many, I am tired but I refuse to give in to it. When my feet hit the floor it's time to go. The drive to work is more focused and one I enjoy even more during the summer. I will make a musical selection that fits my mood. It can be anything from Phantom of the Opera, Eminem, Elvis Presley, or Johnny Cash. Once I get to work it is on. I enjoy getting there early and before everyone, that is my form of meditation.

What I don't get is the people that get up and are grouchy about having to get up, then they are yelling at people when they are driving, then they get to work and begin counting the hours until they are off while complaining the hole time about their job.

I see the pain in the world today and I have experienced my own. Each day I am so thankful for my wife, my son, my friends and that I have a job!

Will people ever see the glass half full?