Showing posts with label Chris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris. Show all posts

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Tune in 11/11/11 for a Special Extreme Home Maker Over for Veterans Day


Veteran’s Day is very important to not only our country, but to me personally. One of my friends was killed in action in Iraq in March 2004. It is very important to remember and thank our Veterans, every day for the sacrifices they make and their families make, everyday.  I wanted to share something that is really cool with you.

ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is teaming up with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) to present a one-hour special: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition “Rise and Honor” A Veterans Day Special.  Airing on Veterans Day (11/11/11), host Ty Pennington will take us back to some of the most heartwarming military stories featured over the years. The Veterans’ Day program will include appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Jewel, George Lopez, J.R. Martinez, Rachael Ray, Sherri Shepherd, Robin Williams as well as Major League Baseball (MLB) players Daniel Murphy of the Mets, Shane Victorino of the Phillies and Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox – all encouraging the public to donate via phone and web at www.riseandhonor.org


The funds raised during #RiseandHonor will benefit the following veteran-serving organizations:

 ·        Fisher House Foundation
·         Hire Heroes USA
·         Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
·         USO (United Service Organizations)
·         Volunteers of America
·         and Welcome Back Veterans.

 These organizations provide vital services and support to our nations veterans and their families including housing, job placement, career readiness, health care, rehabilitation and mental health treatment. 


I will be tuning in and I hope you all will too. It is really important to celebrate and remember our Veterans.  There are so many Veterans that end up with nothing, and on the streets. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be in a war. We should give back, what they gave for us. I am sure I will end up crying my eyes out, because stories about the Military always make me cry. They make me think about Chris and how he and so many others gave all for the land of the free.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Price of Freedom

In honor of Memorial Day, I wanted to share with you all a poem I wrote in 2004 shortly after my friend was killed in action in Iraq. I was best friends with his wife and I spent a lot of time with her and their children. I saw his daughter ask about her dad. She was only 3 and I knew his son would never have a memory of his dad because he was only 10 months old. I want to remind you all what Memorial Day is about.

The Price of Freedom

What is the price of a soldier’s blood
Their mangled bodies laying in mud
We speak of freedom but lives were lost
How many more lives will the so called freedom cost
The 15 minutes of fame
All that is left is just a name
On a plaque in some museum
What happens to the family left behind
The pain never lessens so they find
Children left without fathers
Never an explanation why
So many nightmares too much time to cry
Some so young no memories they ever had
So many unanswered questions Where is my dad?

Remember to thank a soldier and remember the fallen. Thank you to all the soldiers and my brother in law Mike. Rest in Peace Chris and all the other fallen soldiers. Thank you to those who gave their lives for our freedom.

I hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day Weekend. Please take a few moments to remember exactly what the price of freedom really is.

This poem was written directly about the experiences I went through and saw. I am not saying only men are soldiers.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Happy Birthday Chris!

Happy Birthday Chris. Today is Chris’s 27th birthday. A day that is supposed to be a happy one full of joy and cake and presents is one full of tears and empty arms. His mother is probably crying and his kids are probably wondering why right now. Tears are falling for him 5 years later tears for a fallen Solider. See my friend Chris was killed in Iraq in 2004. He was fighting for my freedom and all of us. He just wanted to make his kids proud of him.

I will always remember Chris as a smart man who was very funny. I miss him a lot. I think about him often. He was special. He could make me laugh. He “saved” my life once. Well, I twisted my ankle and he came and got me. We didn’t always get along but he was a good man. We butted heads a lot but we had fun playing Perfect Dark and talking. I learned so much from Chris. He was an encyclopedia of knowledge.

We always did crazy things, Chris, Her and I one year we decided we were gonna go and buy each other a ton of presents and open one each night and then we would end up opening more so we would have to get more presents. They had a birthday party of me and I ended up knocking everything out of the fridge with the gallon of orange juice and I got kicked out of the kitchen. Long Story :)

I remember when She told me he was enlisting. I thought oh he’ll be ok he will be fine. I remember when she told me he was going to Iraq. I reassured her it will be ok he will come home. I remember that March afternoon when I checked my voicemail and it was her calling and saying Call me right away Something bad has happened. I remember when I called her back her sister wouldn’t tell me what was going on. I remember when she called me back and told me. She said Chris has passed away. I couldn’t believe it I couldn’t speak and opened the gates of the Hoover Dam of tears.

I remember the viewing, I remember the funeral. It was really hard for me to approach my best friend of 17 years. I remember all of it. It seems like a dream. I used to dream that Chris was on a secret mission and that he was faking like in the movies and he would just randomly show up. Of course that isn’t the truth. My heart hurts for his family and his kids. His youngest will never remember him and that is a sad sad thing. Chris was a great person , great father and an American Hero.

So, Happy Birthday Chris, some day we will be able to see each other again and We can talk about all those things we talked about back in the day. Until then, Happy New Year.
Love,Sherla

Please remember to Thank A Solider give them a hug after all they sacrifice things: their time and their lives for our freedom. Support the Troops until they all come home. Remember to hold them tightly and tell them how proud of them you are.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

When I hear that song....I think of you

So I am sitting here listening to 90’s music, trying to reclaim my champion title on MahJong and I can’t focus. I am thinking about the songs that are playing and I am singing along. I keep thinking about the memories each song has given me. I know it’s probably dorky that I like 90’s music. Honestly, I have so many memories that has to do with music. I am sure everyone does. When I hear those certain songs I start thinking about the people I was with or what was going on. It made me really want to blog.

The first song that came on was Blues Traveler. Now when I hear certain Blues Traveler songs I think of my old friend Michelle. I think about how we used to do karaoke late night after daiquiris. It was dorky but it was fun. Her and I have so many songs since we were best friends for a very long time. Which would totally make sense. Another song I heard was Runaway Train by Soul Asylum. I thought of someone I hadn’t talked to in quite a while. His name was Reggie. We were online friends. We used to talk on the phone some. He lived in Utah. That was a song that we both listened to. After some years, we lost contact. It had been years since we talked. I decided to finally look him up on myspace. I found him and I saw that he is married now and has adorable kids. I sent him a message just to say hi, but I never heard back. He probably forgot who I was. I don’t blame him. LOL.

It’s crazy to think how just one song can bring back memories. You can go years without thinking about someone or something and you happen to hear a song and bam, like lightening. There it is again. Other songs can bring on a flood of emotions too. They don’t have to be sad either. If I told you songs that I have cried while listening to you would seriously think I was nuts. Music has such an underlying influence if we realize it or not. It’s just kind of something that we hear and either file in our brains for a rainy day or it gets stuck in your head for days. Yes Toilet Paper, Light bulbs, socks for Rosie, crayons is still stuck in my head incase you were wondering. Music is something that can help you remember or forget and even make you feel better.

I remember when I was in elementary school I really liked this boy and he didn’t like me back so I would listen to After the Rain by Nelson to feel better. It always worked. I’m not sure why, probably because it was encouraging to a little broken hearted me. I saw that guy a year ago. I wasn’t impressed. I wondered why I liked him. He was and is a jerk! Lol. I totally acted like I had no clue who he was. I’m bad. A bad experience can totally ruin a song too. I will never be able to listen to some songs again because if the bad memories they hold.

Whenever I hear a song I sang in choir it makes me think of being in school and the good times we had in that class. If it was a Christmas song, it makes me thing of the hoopla known as Holiday Spectacular. Holiday Spectacular was our holiday program in high school. It was unlike any other concert. It was unique. It was very nerve wracking but it was so much fun. It was a huge bonding experience. It was full of laughter and tears and the occasional blood shed. It was definitely the experience that I will never forget and I am happy to have the chance to be a part of it. Even if you had to work really hard and stand at the top of the bleachers and pray you don’t fall off the back from fainting. I have lots of funny and strange stories about that whole thing for another day.

I really like all kinds of music. I am not huge on rap and R&B but there are a handful of songs I like because of the memories. I recently had a conversation with a guy on facebook who shall remain anonymous about music. He is a singer. His voice is ah-mazing. He’s really hot too. Tee-hee. I hope he doesn’t come read my blog cause I would be embarrassed. He told me about how passionate he is about his music and I thought it was a really cool thing to talk about because I could totally get what he was saying and in his words he was expressing his passion. I really hope he achieves his dream. He is really talented.

I think it is crazy how much I can relate to certain songs. Some times I think that a singer is singing about me or about my life. The song Photograph by Nickelback is one of those songs. I have altered the name in the song to Chris though. Chris was my old best friend’s husband who was killed in Iraq and some how on New Years eve one year we convinced him to put a tiara that said Happy New Year on his head and took pictures of him. I suspect alcohol was the culprit in that one. At Chris’s viewing I was watching the dvd she made and that picture was in there and I started laughing so hard. I felt really stupid. After all it was a sad event. It was my favorite memory with him. I told her she should of warned me. Thankfully I didn’t laugh at the funeral when they showed the video again. The other lyrics of Photograph were pretty much verbatim of high school for me.

I know that most people can relate to different songs. That is what gives them the magic and I am sure that is what the singer or the band is really going for besides the sound. It’s all about the connection and the feelings between the musicians and the listener.

I would love to hear about some songs that give you reminders of things and why they do. I look forward to reading more about you.