jenny;
many passions and big dreams.
many weaknesses, but full of strengths.
personality is full of contradictions.
have to know me to get me.
opens up to few, but will always be there for you.
#scion #frs #subaru #brz #cars #canon #7D (Taken with instagram)
fire | Flickr – Compartilhamento de fotos! on We Heart It. http://weheartit.com/entry/18154879
(via senorjonny)
When I’m called to duty God
wherever flames may rage
give me strength to save a life
whatever be its age
Help me to embrace a little child
before it is too late
or save an older person from
the horror of that fate
Enable me to be alert
to hear the weakest shout
and quickly and efficiently
to put the fire out
I want to fill my calling and
to give the best in me
to guard my neighbor and
protect his property
And if according to your will
I have to lose my life
bless with your protecting hand
my children and my wife.
How many firefighters does it take to screw in a light bulb?… none cause they are all too busy saving lives
the last fuckin straw. i put my whole life in an sd memory card. my inspirations, the few things im proud of, the things no one knows about but me, the things that keep me going. i always put it in my pocket so i can carry it around with me since its not saved in my computer. so i put it in my jeans pocket since i was wearing sweats today. i left the jeans on top of my couch neatly. i told my mom not to take anything from my room. dont take my towels up stairs to be washed. dont take any of my clothes cause nothing needs to be washed yet. i made sure it was clear not to even go in my room. i get home and the first thing i see thats gone are my jeans. my blood started to boil and ran upstairs to the washer and dryer. my fuckin jeans were in the fuckin dryer. i look through my pockets and look everywhere hoping that my ignorant mother would have taken it out. but no! i look into the washer and there in the bottom was my firefighter sticker that was also in my pocket and my memory card. are you fucking kidding me? this was my whole life! and now its gone. the thing that kept my head high was gone. i am so furious! my mom always does this! the other day i got a thing in the mail that said that because of my academic achievements i could go to this thing (basically a college for kids) where you can go to a campus across the country and study the things you might be interested in. this was the 3rd letter from them and when i see that i become proud of myself. no one in my family cares about my achievements and im not good at a lot of things but my academics are one of the only things im proud of. coming from a family that doesnt show their appreciation for everything you do for them, doesnt trust you even though ive never done anything bad, a sibling that calls you names like fat bitch, a mom that always laughs at you when youre trying to tell her how you feel, and a step father that takes out stress on you, you learn to be your own support system. ive learned that in order to be able to get up in the morning i have be proud of myself for the things i do, i have to love myself, i have to appreciate everything i do for myself and everyone else, and you have to teach yourself right from wrong. im basically parenting myself mentally and emotionally. the only reason im still at home is because im not financially stable. but whenever i get those letters (especially when a teacher recommended me for one) i get this pride for myself. but every time my mom says that those things are fake and they send that out to every kid. she could care less. she ended up throwing it away. i was so pissed cause i like to save those so when im older i can look back and tell myself i did a good job and when i see them now, i can tell myself im going to make it to bigger and better things. but no one cares. she didnt even think twice. she just threw it away like it was garbage. this year alone she has crossed boundaries that im tired of. im just sick of bullshit. i cant fuckin wait till im out of this place. only one more year then all this weight can be lifted of me because i know there is a better life waiting.
Perhaps you have seen this photo. On Facebook maybe or on a military blog, in an email.
In the picture, to the right, Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Paul Carpenter’s dog tags dangle from his dusty boots. A small Bible, bookmarked with his wedding announcement, rests on the floor beside them.
To the left, a camouflaged cap is propped on the edge of a framed picture of Andrew, or Andy, as most people knew him. He is dressed in his fatigues, smiling widely.
Lying in the center of the photograph, sound asleep on his father’s folded fatigues, is 2-week-old Landon Paul Carpenter. He was born March 18, a month after his father was killed in Afghanistan. It was his second deployment.
Descriptions attached to the photo, which recently has blazed across the Internet, typically invoke the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the families who love them.
Andrew’s 22-year-old widow, Crissie, doesn’t mind that this is how others interpret the photo. Not at all. It’s just not why she asked photographer Marcia Truitt to take this particular picture of her newborn son.
“I knew that Landon would never be able to get a photo with his father,” Crissie said in a telephone interview from her home in Dickson, Tenn. “Andy couldn’t hold his son for the photo, but he’s still in it. I wanted to capture this moment, for Landon to have this closeness with his father.”
Crissie met Ms. Truitt, who owns Inara Studios in Nashville, after another military widow with a young son gave her the photo session as a gift. Ms. Truitt was nearly eight months pregnant with her first child when Crissie showed up with baby Landon and a box of her husband’s belongings.
“It was the hardest photo session I’ve ever done,” Ms. Truitt said in a phone interview from her studio. “She brought that huge box of his things. One by one, we pulled out his Gideons Bible, his dog tags, his shirt and boots, his photo …” Ms. Truitt’s voice trailed off, and she took a couple of breaths.
“It was really hard to do. But that was the way to honor her husband, to honor Landon’s dad. And despite the sadness, it was also a celebration of a life.”
Crissie said she loved the photo and immediately wanted to share it with friends and family.
“I love to post photos on Facebook, so, of course, I posted this one of Landon. I had no idea so many people would want to share it.”
Within days, a military blog asked for permission to post it, and Crissie readily agreed.
“Before I knew it, the photo had 100,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook and thousands of comments.”
Crissie never intended to publicize the photo to strangers, and she thought long and hard before agreeing to talk about it with me. In the end, she decided to share the back story of the photo in the hope that publicizing the picture of Landon more widely would help Americans better understand the sacrifices of everyone in the military, including the children who are left behind. Ms. Truitt generously has allowed us to share the photo with readers for free.
It’s the kind of picture that can change your day.
“I know people have looked at this photo with a different impression than what I intended,” Crissie said. “For many, it tells the story of the ultimate sacrifice Andy made. I’m OK with that, because that’s certainly true. I want them to see the sacrifice that a ton of families have made. I’m not the only spouse to lose a loved one. If I can help others to see this, then I hope that God will use me.”
Crissie paused and then apologized as she started to cry.
“I would do anything for my husband to still be alive. I’d live on the side of the road in a box if he could be there with me.”
“I hope dads who can hold their children … realize how lucky they are. I hope everyone who sees it turns to someone they love and says, ‘I love you, and I’m so thankful I still have you in my life.’ “
Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist for Creators Syndicate (con.schultz@yahoo.com).Oh the tears.
