The Call

They had not gathered today to celebrate, but to mourn, to say good-bye. This would be the last time for some of the crew to see their loved ones; however, they did not know to what extent that would be at this time.

Everyone knew that when the crew when out, some were not going to return. This has always been the case and will always be so; therefore they had gathered to mourn the departure of the crew. In denial, they were just saying good-bye.

As we left our loved ones still in tears, we boarded our transportation, still unaware of where we were bound and what we were going to do.

All we knew is that a call went throughout the land for volunteers, and men and women, black and white, red and brown, young and old all responded to the call.

As for an enemy to come and enslave us, that wasn’t going to happen, not now, not ever.  

We were free men and women.

That’s the principle that our country was established upon.

That’s how we lived.

Did we know what we were going to be doing?

No, all we knew is that we were needed and we weren’t gonna wait around to find out after it became a full-fledged ordeal, and then be over run without being organized.

Did we have any training in defending our land, if that were the case?

Yes, because of the roaming bands that would come onto our property and try to steal our crops and livestock in the middle of the night.  

Did we have our weapons? We were told not to bring any, because what we had was obsolete as compared to what we would receive.

However, that didn’t stop us from bringing our small arms and ammunition in our sacks.

One lesson we all learned growing up is that you never, ever leave home without your weapon, no matter what, no matter who said not to bring them.

As we were leaving, we were all waving good-bye and throwing kisses back and forth until we were out of sight.

We traveled down the old dirt roads that our families had made years ago in order for us to get to our homesteads.

It seemed as if the open canopy wagons hit every chuckhole in the road as we bounced from left to right and back again.

Some of us knew that this would be the last time that we would see our homes and tears were being held back so as not to appear weak as we traveled down the road.

Soon the road passed through a wide field full of flowers, and as far as one could see there was nothing but flowers.

No one had planted these flowers here according to legend, for they were here when our great, great grandparents settled this valley.

All of us at one time or another had brought our loved ones to these fields of flowers. It’s were many of us fell in love and pledged our lives and love to one another.

Now, as we  pass through these fields of flowers we pledge our lives to protect our loved ones and to defend our Country, and the tears now flowed openly knowing that this new pledge was to the death if need so be.

Soon we were through the valley of flowers and on down the trail and the day grew long and weary.

It seemed as if we were never going to get to our destination as evening drew near.

Many questions still lingered in our minds as to what we were going to do and where we were going that was making the trip so long.