Mother Goose at the Marathon

I felt the wind in my feathers as it gusted off Lake Michigan, and I was chilled to the bone with the cold mist in the air. But I stayed with the pack and didn’t falter as I volunteered to help with the Soldier Field 10 mile marathon this past weekend. Perhaps you were beginning to think that Mother Goose was out RUNNING ANOTHER marathon…

Sometimes she runs, and sometimes she volunteers to hand out water to the amazing finishers of the race.

As the sun rose over beautiful Lake Michigan and over the exhibit tents in the after-race area, we donned our official T-shirts over our hoodies and leather jackets in preparation for our volunteer service.

This was the tenth year of the Soldier’s Field 10 Mile, and a record number of runners took the challenge. In fact, Mother Goose handed water bottles to 17,500 thirsty, dehydrated and depleted runners in Chicago on Saturday morning. WOW!

Husband Goose and myself arrived at the historic stadium at the appointed and nearly ungodly time of 5:00 a.m. to check in with the wonderful people from Salute Inc. Salute Inc. was one of the honored beneficiaries of this race which is almost to say that not only did they sponsor it, but it was a fundraiser for them. A pretty huge fundraiser, for sure.

Our very first event was to assist in the Kids Blitz. Those little kids were so excited to actually be on the ground, on the exact field where their favorite team, the Chicago Bears play. In fact, it was pretty surreal for Mother Goose, too!

And then we volunteers built a wall of water right there in the stadium, right in the end zone, in the exact spot where so many football battles have been fought.

The first runner entered the arena and crossed the 50-yard line, the Finish Line, with a time of 49 minutes and 57 seconds! He ran TEN MILES in less than 50 minutes! I will tell you that Mother Goose ran her 5K (3.1 miles) last year with a finishing time of 42 minutes…not quite as fast. His name is Dan Kremske and he didn’t even look slightly exhausted, obviously he’s done this sort of thing before.

More and more runners crossed that finish line over the next three hours. Every single one of them a hero in their own right with stories to tell and battle scars to show off to family and friends. We were completely amazed at the endurance and the joy of these men and women. Of course, Mother Goose was completely disabled after her race — not at all full of vim and vigor to attend any sort of after-race party activities.

It was a GREAT TIME for everybody — runners received medals from the hands of American servicemen and women, the Gatorade and waters flowed sweetly. There were bananas all around for a little potassium lift.

We were inspired by the events of the day, and do not be surprised if you see Mother Goose crossing that 50-yard line next spring! Serving water to the runners is fun, but not as much fun as running on rubbery feet for ten miles along Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive…
Stay tuned.

And God bless you today.

Love, Mother Goose

Remember Richard Casper?

Many of my lovable and loyal readers will remember the four-part series I wrote in February about Marine veteran Richard Casper — his adventures, his mishaps, the injuries he suffered as a result of being hit FOUR time by IEDs in Iraq, his return home and his eventual healing through arts and music.

Well, Richard is moving forward with his vision to help fellow injured veterans. Here’s a link to a blog beautifully written by Tiffany Schertz, wife of a brave Marine vet who lost his leg in Iraq and was badly burned by a suicide bomber there. Richard took her husband Jesse down to Nashville to write a country song with the band Blackjack Billy. Mother Goose could never have covered this follow-up story better than Tiffany who is a brave wife and mom herself.

http://amarineslove.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-few-weeks-ago-jesse-took-trip-to.html

Please read her story, and share the video of Richard singing Jesse’s song. We have to help one another and this is a great way to spread the word that our brave veterans aren’t just sick and injured — they have HOPE and great GIFTS to share with the rest of us.

God bless you today for caring about our servicemen and women!

M.Goose Spots Some Banners in the Windows

(Originally posted over at the OTHER Mother Goose site: mothergoosesalutes.wordpress.com)

Sometimes Mother Goose just goes out joy riding. When I was a youngster, we’d drive through the countryside, the dirt roads and sometimes the trails through the forests…just to go for a ride. We would look for deer in the fields at twilight, a gravel road with agate potential, a blueberry patch along the side of the road. Sometimes we went looking for “real estate”.

Back in the 60’s in the country parts of northern Minnesota, any random passerby could pull into the driveway of an abandoned house and walk right into the empty house. These “real estate” adventures comprise some of my fondest memories. With our parents and grandparents permission, we could go snooping around other people’s homes and lives — houses full of stuff were highly regarded as treasure to our family!

Imagine fully furnished homes just empty of people and left to the rages of time! I began my stamp collection from the abandoned mail of these homes. We also collected antique “Ball jars”, door knobs, glass medicine bottles, barbed wire and tools. Once we found an abandoned home in a quiet valley complete with a functional piano on the front porch. I launched into my memorized material and entertained my family. For some reason, we never felt like we were trespassing…just checking the “real estate”.

Today I didn’t go into any of the homes I stopped at — just stood outside. I didn’t leave anything but blessings. I didn’t take anything but pictures.

Blue Star Banner in Stickney, IL

A Blue Star Banner, a Marine flag and a U.S. flag flying proudly in front of my friend’s home.

A Blue Star Banner in a watchful Berwyn neighborhood.

Only God knows the deep pride and sorrow of a Gold Star Family.

Ragamuffin Goose

Undoubtedly, some of my readers have wondered if I have dropped off the planet. And most certainly, I almost did. If a goose could die of allergies, then I would most definitely be in Heaven today. It’s been pretty rough on old Mother Goose, but I think I’m feeling better enough to write today. Although, be careful not to touch your computer screen because I have eyes full of styes. I would not wish this on anyone…

“But Mother Goose, how…?” you may ask and your question may trail off just like that if you saw my eyes right now. With all simplification in place, I will say this: if your eyes itch and burn like they have fire in them from the pollen in the spring air, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT RUB THEM OR PLACE YOUR FINGERS ANYWHERE WITHIN TEN INCHES FEET OF YOUR EYES!

I would take a picture and show my eyes to you, but you would throw up on your keyboard. Indeed, Mother Goose has no desire to be a liability to any one of her loyal and loving readers. And a special shout out to my dear reader, Dianna, for kindly asking about me — you’re such a sweet heart and everybody should just go over to her blog right away as soon as you are done here and see just how wonderful she is…

Anyway, to get to the meandering point of my post today…

“A ragamuffin knows he’s only a beggar at the door of God’s mercy.” Brennan Manning

Sometimes a movie comes along that will change your life and the way that you view God. Sometimes you have to wait about fifteen years for that movie to be created, but you know it’s coming. I’m only a goose, but I’m just out and out promoting a new movie about the amazing life of Rich Mullins — it’s coming soon and here’s a trailer for it. PLEASE watch the trailer and share it with everybody you know and be blessed.

And please pray for the eyes of Mother Goose to heal quickly — I have so many stories to tell!