June Newsletter

T-T June 2012 Newsletter
An American Soldier Standing Guard
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight of my wife asleep, her head on my chest, my daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep in perfect contentment, or so it would seem. So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, and I crept to the door just to see who was near. Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts, to the window that danced with a warm fire's light, then he sighed and he said "Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night"
"Its my duty to stand at the front of the line, that separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December," he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers. My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam and now it is my turn so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while, but my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile." Then he bent and carefully pulled from his bag, The red white and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone, away from my family, my house and my home, I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,
I can carry the weight of killing another or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers who stand at the front against any and all, to insure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright Your family is waiting and I'll be all right." "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone. To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead, to know you remember we fought and we bled is payment enough, and with that we will trust. That we mattered to you as you mattered to us." by: Michael Marks
************************************************************ Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Any military personnel that reads this letter, just know that you have my deepest appreciation for what you've done for me and my family. May God bless each and every one of you!!
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OK, T-Twisters, we ARE having a dinner ride this month. it's going to be a Mystery Steak House run. We're gonna meet at Stripes across from Warfield on June 30, at 5:30. MARK YOUR CALENDER!! We need these rides so we can fellowship as a Club! On the days I really didn't want to make a ride, I've NEVER been sorry that I went. You won't be sorry either. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you then!!
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Camp Wood, here we come!! I am so looking forward to getting away from the real world for awhile. Al and I are heading out on June 2nd, we're just gonna take it easy and mosey down there. I guess I know what I'm gonna be doing tomorrow...getting the camper cleaned and loaded. This is gonna be a GREAT Club campout...I hope you guys are looking forward to it as much as i am.
A great big "Welcome" goes out to our newest members, Jim Radtke and Carla Manning. They live in Midland and joined at the May meeting.
Al just got back from his long anticipated ride to Red River, NM. He and a friend, Robert Dale, left here Wednesday and almost made it to Muleshoe when the axel on the Kwik Kamp broke. Thanks to some guys with a trailer that stopped to help, they were able to make it on into Muleshoe. After getting campers switched, they were able to leave Thursday morning, and somewhere around Las Vegas, NM, they found the wind. It was a 50 mph that never stopped. He said it blew the whole three days they were there, and pushed the camper around so much that it bent a couple of the jacks and blew over the canopy he had put up for the bike. He said there were so many people that there was no parking within a mile of down town. They found Mario and did some riding, but Al said that the most enjoyable part of the trip for him was to sit at the ice cream shop and watch all the people. The three of them came home a day early because they were tired of the wind. Al said they didn't run out of it until they turned east at Tatum. This is one time I'm glad I stayed home!!
Don't forget the general meeting at Warfield on June 1st, at 7:30. And the officers meeting is on June 19th, again at Warfield, at 7:30. Even tho this is a officers meeting, it is open to anyone that wants to come.
Mel got a new car and she's super proud of it. Yep, it's another Jeep, but she said this one is the top of the line. Now she can follow Mike almost everywhere he goes on the bike, and she can even go topless if she wants!!
OK, guys, that's it for this month. Summer's here (hurray!!) and the riding season is full upon us. So enjoy, and please be careful. Traffic is so much worse around here now, it scares me to see a bike on the roads in town. Watch out for the four wheelers, cause they sure don't watch out for us!!
Ride safe, and keep the shiny side up!
Mary T.