Our lives continue to carry on without pause, the crias are just the best this year, and our family is precious to us.  The friends we have made, and are continuing to make, because of The Alpaca Bean Coffee Co, are truly a blessing to both Judy and I.  This is the month of love and caring...like any month should be any different...but hey, it is pretty darn special you know.  Judy and I were married so long ago in this loving month, we began our life together as a very young couple during a time our country was involved in a very unforgiving war, The Vietnam Conflict.  We soon were totally wrapped up in this conflict as a U.S. Air Force family...on what we in Minuteman Missile Command called "the front line of defense" for our beloved country.  Of course for us the "front line" was in a very rural part of Missouri...matter-of-fact that line ran right through Knob Noster - yep, that is how rural it was! :o)

 

But this is not about the Air Force, nor is it about Vietnam.  Those things enveloped us at the time, but we were more so enveloped by the love of the community where we lived.  LaMonte, MO, was a very small community with its main claim to fame being that its bank, our bank as it turns out, was once robbed by Jesse James!  You see, that small town did not have a whole bunch to claim; well "they" did not see their biggest claim to fame...the people that lived there.  These were the same people that welcomed in a young couple that was fresh from their Georgia homes.  A couple needing to be held in a special, loving way, just the way these folks knew how to do. 

 

You know we became a part of that special place, at that special time.  We became a solid part of that community and the loving circle that supported us so well...then we found that time had passed, and we were now young parents of two precious little girls, and our time in the service of our beloved country was drawing to an end...we found it was our time to leave this circle and return home to Georgia. 

 

We really had to deal with leaving, venturing out...becoming a part of another community. This was a change that was difficult for us.  You see, it meant leaving our first real home, our first experience with our first church home we selected together, and our first family of friends as a married couple.  Those friends had helped us grow and helped us to recognize that wherever we ventured as a couple we could gain, and lose, a part of ourselves.  

 

We also learned that while it is hard to lose close contact with our secure environment, wherever it is, it seems to always bring more opportunities for gaining new friends, new knowledge, new loves of our lives.  Maybe that is what I am doing a pretty poor job of saying...just like the good folks in LaMonte, we need to welcome in all that come into our lives, no matter the community.  We never really know what we can mean to folks that are "new" in one of our communities, nor do we know if they need support...or a kind word of assurance.  Whether it be in our local city or county community, our alpaca community, our religious community, or our family community...we need to reach out, don't you think?

 

How?  Well, from my view, just try to hold onto our friends, both old and new, in a very special loving way...in just the way Judy and I were held so many memories and years ago. 

 

Peace,

The Coffeeman

 

PS:  Hey, you may even offer them a good mug of coffee - and a bit of good conversation to boot!  You may never know the difference you can make...