It's Veterans Day! Did you thank a vet today?
I come from a long line of military vets. My great grandfather came over from the Netherlands to fight for the US during WWII. My grandfather was in the Army, stationed in the Phillipines during the Korean war. My great uncle was on the USS Enterprise, & my uncle was in the Air Force. My dad was in the ANG during Vietnam. I'm the first female in my family to serve, which I did in the Coast Guard after 9/11, & I'm married to a Navy submariner. Yep.. That's a long line.
It was a pretty solemn day around here. We watched the memorial for the victims of the Ft. Hood yesterday, & the families of those at Ft. Lewis weighed heavy on my heart today. I try to take holidays like this to help Shelbye understand everything that's going on. She gets that her dad is gone & that it's just part of life, but she doesn't understand the real reasons behind it. She doesn't get that there's a war raging, or how many Americans are involved in it or have been lost to it. She really doesn't understand the events at Ft. Hood. She couldn't get why I was crying over people I've never met. Part of me wants to help her understand, but the larger part thinks it's best that she doesn't get it. Her life is affected enough by it all by losing her dad for six months out of the year; she should be shielded from the worst of it for as long as possible. So today's conversation basically consisted of explaining that our freedoms are protected by people like Dave who leave their families behind & make sacrifices so that they can keep us safe. I told her that the military is like a big family, & if someone dies, it doesn't matter if we actually knew them, it's still losing a part of our big military family.
So thank you, to those who have served & are serving now. Thank you to the wives of those who are away, those who are holding their breath wishing their deployment wouldn't come, & those who won't be coming home
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -- JFK
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Girl! Where are you? How are you? My e-mails to you keep bouncing back and you haven't been on Chickberry in forever. Is everything OK?
ReplyDeleteI'm just now seeing this. I'm sorry! Everything's okay, I've just been ridiculously busy the last few months. I can't imagine why the emails are bouncing back, I've been getting the birthday & prayer lists emails from you. I'll make sure to check in with the Chicks sometime this week. Thanks for checking up on me!
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