Veteran's Day

"One year ago today my oldest daughter married her best friend and love of her life...and then he was deployed and spent their first year in Afghanistan. He is now on his way home. Happy First Anniversary Drewann and Jared.  May you get to spend the next year together! Love you both!"

My college roommate posted this on her Facebook page last night. What an awesome picture that captured so many emotions for me. I have never met this young man or my roommate's daughter but I do have the utmost respect for him and for soldiers all over the world that put themselves in harms way to protect our freedoms and American way of life. They sacrifice time with their families and live in undesirable and uncomfortable circumstances all for the cause of protecting our way of life and keeping us safe.

On this Veteran's Day let us all remember the sacrifice of all soldiers throughout our history. I'm grateful to each and every one of them and for their families who also sacrifice. In my own family histories there are numerous relatives that have served their country, including my own Dad who was in the National Guard. He actually was away on a two week training in Panama when I was born and received a telegram when I was two days old announcing the birth of me, a baby girl!

American soldiers are heros. I was in the airport a while back and a group of soldiers was walking through. A man stopped one of the soldiers and introduced him to his son who was probably around 6 or 7. I heard him say to his son, "This is a real soldier. He protects our country." He kept emphasizing that he was a real soldier. They chatted for a while and then the soldier went and joined his comrades. I loved that this Father was teaching his son to respect and honor our service men. Thank you to the brave men and women who serve our country. They deserve our gratitude and respect.