Scared little girls turn into Brave Women...

My friend Lois and I realized the other day that we had some of the same fears as kids. The only difference is she was the youngest and her older brother and sisters were always scaring her.
She said that every night she'd go to her room and her brother would say "Watch out for the green eye." Even though she had NO idea what that was, it always scared her.

Even though I didn't have that fear,I did discover that we both were the champs at long jumps. I found out that she (like myself) would turn off the light and jump as far as she could to the bed. Why you ask? Because we KNEW there was something under our beds that would grab our ankles and drag us under the bed if we were caught. Once I did miss the bed and fell straight to the floor beside my bed. I thought for sure I was a goner, but I guess the under-the-bed-monster was off duty that night.

She was also scared of skeletons. She was so scared, that her parents bought her a little, tiny, plastic movable one that she slept with every night. She even named it, I THINK she said it's name was Scaley. But something sad happened to poor "scaley?" She thought he was cold one night, so she put him on top of her lamp. In the morning it was just a melted plastic pile.

It's so hard to believe that this person that was terrified of skeletons, green eyes, and things under the bed..... Grew up, joined the Air Force, and served in Desert Storm. Her job was to identify body parts after battles. She would go to the field, and when she found a body part, she'd put a flag by it, then someone else coming behind would know where the pieces were and put each piece in individual body bags. She told me that you NEVER stand there and try to figure out what body part it was. "You don't stand there and think 'that's an arm, or that's a leg' You just stick your flag in the ground, and move on to the next part. You don't waste time thinking about what you're really doing. If you did, you'd need counseling."

Her 7 (now 8) year old son, Philip, asked "Mommy why are you retarded?" She said "What do you mean?" "Why are you retarded from the Air Force?" Last April, Lois retired from the Air Force. So, now we refer to her as being retarded. Lois, you're my hero, and I salute you!!!!!!!!!


With Veterans day coming up, do me a favor and thank a veteran.