... and it snowed in November

It’s beginning to look a lot like …. Wait, hold your horses Wanda Moeller before you break out in song and dance. Yes…it did snow last week in Socorro County. And it was thrilling … well at least for this Midwesterner.

It only lasted a few hours before the snow was gone and the sun was shining again. I give credit, however, to those brave youth who decided to go sliding down the hill near Tech or those willing to build snowmen in their yards.

Yes, it was a heavy snowfall just like those in Minnesota and Iowa.

One of the things that I missed moving to New Mexico was the four seasons of the Midwest.

Spring was corn planting time. Summer was detasseling corn time and county fairs. Fall was meant for harvesting corn and soybeans. Winter – that was the time to relax and watch high school girls’ and boys’ basketball teams as well as wrestlers take over high school gymnasiums.

Fall sports in our communities are coming down to the wire. Socorro Warriors football team will play New Mexico Military Institute one more this time on our home turf on Friday night. Mark your calendars and set your clock’s alarm for 6 p.m.

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I was honored on Monday to be one of the speakers at this year’s Veterans Day service alongside Mayor Ravi Bhasker, Rep. Tara Jaramillo, Socorro County Manager Andrew Lotrich, New Mexico Tech Vice-President Van Romero and Sgt. Major Stephen A. Sloane of the U.S. Army.

I my humble opinion: Veterans are the people who make our country a better place to work and live by establishing good more character and setting good examples for your family, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. They need your courage and support in their lives, and they need to hear your story.

I am the great-niece of a World War I veteran, the daughter of a World War II veteran and the sister of a retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander. Plus, the aunt of a Lt. in the U.S. Coast Guard who serves his country at Coast Guard Headquarters.

Honoring veterans was second nature in our family and helping them was mandatory – not optional. When there was a Miles Legion sponsored fish fry or a fundraising event … it was mandatory that we would help. No whining was allowed. When my mother joined the Legion Auxiliary, her mission was to replace the wobbly tables and chairs that had been at our local Legion Hall since World War I. In a matter of time, she instituted bake sales in conjunction with the Legion dinners.

One year, I was home on a vacation and my mother was busy baking in the kitchen for Friday night’s Fish Fry. The phone rang, and she said, “answer it.” Next thing I knew I was her receptionist taking orders for baked goods. “Ask your mom if she’s making any Rhubarb pie? If she is…tell her to reserve two for me.” Another caller wanted to know if she was making her special Cinnamon bread and rolls. “Tell you mom to reserve a couple of loafs and a half dozen cinnamon rolls.”

And if that wasn’t enough, when we rolled up in front of the Legion Hall prior to the event – mom was greeted by host of Legionnaires who help to grab a pie before it hit the stands. Heck … she had a couple hundred bucks in the Auxiliary’s coffers before the fish fry even started.

Those bake sales brought in more than $15,000 that year. The local auxiliary not only bought new chairs and tables, but new silverware, plus a new fridge and oven. She was named the Auxiliary member of the year – which was good for her since dad had died a year earlier of Farmer’s Lung disease.

Looking back, helping the local Legion and its Auxiliary in my hometown was a good thing. It taught me to care about the people who defended our country in war and peace times.

It’s time we started caring more about our veterans. Without them defending our freedoms, we couldn’t live the life we are living today.