Tribute to Copper

As some of you know, we lost our cherished family pet on our trip from El Paso to Columbia. While we were in San Antonio, Copper showed signs of advanced parvo and had to be put to sleep. We were all sad to lose our friend, but Wyatt seemed to take it harder than the rest of us. He would cry a lot over the next couple of weeks, but especially when we heard the song, "Untitled Hymn" by Chris Rice. The chorus says "sing to Jesus...fly to Jesus..."etc,. and is about how life is hard and in the end we go to God. He said it reminded him of Copper. They just happen to play it ALL THE TIME on the christian radio station in Columbia. It was very "traumatic" for all of us.

Last week, Wyatt came to me one night and said he had a song he had written and wanted me to hear it. He then proceeded to sing what he calls, "Sing to Copper". I was laughing so hard that I was crying, which is good because if I had not cried, Wyatt would think I didn't love Copper. It was so darn heartfelt that I could not help but love him for it.

When Shawn got home, Wyatt debuted it for him as well. I had to hide in the bathroom until he was done so he couldn't see me laughing. After the first verse Shawn commented that it was very nice, to which I said, "Oh, no no, Daddy! There are about four more verses." So funny.

We tried to make him feel very proud of his accomplishment. Apparently, we did a good job. The next morning before school, he announced, "I'm probably going to be a big star. I should go practice." We have created a monster!

Here now, is a little snippet of a revised version of Wyatt Moss, singing "Sing to Copper."

Finally blogging

Well, after seeing so many friends do this blog thing, I thought I would give this a try. I hope this will be a place where family and friends can check in from time to time and see how we are doing.

Recently we moved from El Paso, Texas, to Columbia, South Carolina, where my husband, Shawn in a Drill Sergeant in the US Army. Even as I am writing this, the bugle is sounding for the end of the day, a sound that has become very familiar over the last 6 weeks. This army post is all about training soldiers - "Victory Starts Here". At o'dark thirty in the morning I am usually awakened, not by my alarm clock, but by a canon blast and the sounds of cadence in the distance. I sometimes pause and think about what all these sounds mean to us... our family.

We live in a unique place, a community of families who live the same lifestyle we do on a daily basis. I hope to share with those who don't know, a little more understanding of what life is like for us. And for those who do share this world with me, please insert your opinions where you want to.