an American girl

We made a stop on Main Street here in Newkirk yesterday at the American flag disposal bin to give a final send off to the flag we had been flying at our home for the better part of the past two years.  It was noticeably faded with small tears in the corner from being whipped about in the Oklahoma wind.  My brother-in-law, the late Wes St. Clair, would have been the first to have reminded me that it was time to do that.

As a matter of fact, past time.

Wes was an Air Force veteran with more than 20 years of service to his country.  He was a true patriot who believed in flying Old Glory proudly from the front yard of their home in Altus, Oklahoma.  Wes was always on the lookout for people who flew the flag from their homes and businesses as well.  The moment he spied one that was in less than acceptable condition, Wes would pull over and visit with someone about the need to retire flags that were in poor shape.  I've even known of him to volunteer to bring over a new one and switch out flags for them. 

He was just that way.

Yesterday Mike and I picked up a new flag at our local Atwood's store.  For less than $10, we were able to replace our old one with the brightly colored flag that flies from our front porch this morning.  As I looked at it, I couldn't help but to almost hear Wes say to me,

"Now that's more like it Peggy!"

And he would be right.  That is more like it!


The current state of the country seems pretty chaotic sometimes.  Between politics and nearly a year of the world wide pandemic/Covid 19, our plates have been full of unrest.  Sometimes at the end of the day, you just need to pause a moment and realize how wonderful this country of America still remains.  In my opinion and in spite of all of our differences, we need to fly the flag with pride. In my heart, I can think of no other place I would wish to live in, no other country I would desire to call my "homeland".  

I was born on the prairie of south central Kansas and I am very proud to say that I am and always will be one thing. 

An American girl.

Believe it or not, this flag disposal bin was one of the first things that caught my eye when we were deciding whether or not Newkirk would be the right community to move to and retire in.  In all the many places in which I have ever lived, I have never noticed anything like this before.   When I placed our old flag into it, I knew that it would be respectfully and properly taken care of.  Old Glory certainly deserves that.


~the last flag that flew in front of Wes and Sherry's home in Altus, Oklahoma~

Spring of 2017 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

As We All Hang on to Hope/Along the Road to Home

Image
The birds were singing in our neighborhood this early February morning.  The resident Northern Cardinal called out from the tops of the trees in our side yard to any and all who would hear it.  The Cedar Waxwing, House Finch, and European Starling joined in the chorus as well.  It was so nice to hear their voices as I stood on the front porch breathing in the fresh air.  It gave me hope that someday soon all the many birds will return as the weather and the calendar move closer to spring. We hang on to that hope. For the past month, during these horribly cold days of January and winter, I have been trying to get some spider plants to start in the south kitchen window.  Slowly I watched their roots develop, getting bigger and stronger every morning.  I knew it would be time to soon take them from the water and transplant the tender young plants into soil.  I wasn't really expecting to do it this morning, but the weather brought us more tolerable tempera...
Read more

From the plains of Oklahoma, along the road to home

Image
It's early, in fact it's 4:30 a.m. in the morning early, here along the plains of Oklahoma.  The house is remarkably quiet save for the once in a while snoring sound of Gus, our 7-year-old miniature Aussie dog.  I love the quiet and every chance I can, I sit in it and relish the gift of peace that it offers to me.  Soon enough the sun will arise, cars will wake up on the streets of our town, and children will venture up and down Magnolia Avenue on their bicycles as they yell back and forth to one another. The gift only lasts so long so I enjoy it when and while I can. Many years ago, I began blogging right before I left for the Bike Across Kansas in the summer of 2011.  Writing turned out to be something I really loved to do and so I continued during the summer.  In August of 2011, a really poor decision made while I was riding a bike ended up sending me to the hospital with a badly broken left arm and wrist.  The recovery was a long one, punctuated by nume...
Read more

~and I came here to stay~

Image
I learned something about myself as a teacher and a person during the first 3 days of school last week, and the something is this. "I have a plenty to learn." I have wanted to be a teacher for Ponca City Public Schools   for well over a year now.   I wanted to come here because I knew it would be a great opportunity to grow and change as a teacher.  With a quite limited number of years left as a public school educator, I didn't want to waste the chance to be able to help kids in any way that I could.  This particular district offers a tremendous amount of support to its staff who in turn are able to pass that support on to the children they teach each day.  I like that about being here, and it is a win-win  for all concerned. I definitely learned a lot during the first three days of school, and some of it was the hard way.  It's a humbling thing to be a veteran teacher of 40 years now and find yourself making mistakes that others who have bee...
Read more