Happy Veterans Day 2013!!

I was speaking with a veteran today as he reminisced about his time of military service.  Somewhere along the way, he reflected --comparing his life then to now—“You know, most people will never fully understand what the men and women who sign up to serve in our military give up … The freedoms they have to temporarily surrender, the sacrifices they are willing to make in order to protect the freedoms everyone in our nation enjoys today … Freedoms most people flat-out take for granted.” 

And you know, this veteran is probably right; sad but true are his words.  I for my part, however, having grown-up in a military family do happen to know firsthand what life in a military family is like, the sacrifices that the men and women in our military make … the sacrifices the families of military members make.  I remember most of all the year my father was sent to work overseas for a full year, without leave.  I distinctly remember how hard my father’s absence was on my mother, having to be a single parent while worrying about the safety of her husband.  My father’s year of overseas duty was hard on all of us in different ways.  I remember wondering sometimes, myself, if he would in truth ever come back home to us again.  But my father did eventually come back home, walking on two legs, with open arms to hug and hold.  That was a surreal day for me.  I can still see my father’s homecoming vividly in my mind, as if it had happened only yesterday.  I suppose that is why I am always seem to find gentle tears seeping from my eyes when I witness a father, or mother for that matter, being reunited with his/her children and family on television, or in person --we have gone to a few of the welcome our troops home rallies at airports.  So God Bless them, one and all:  the men and women who serve today, those who have served in the past and especially the families --children, wives, spouses and all-- that love and support our service men and women.  As a nation, we are ever grateful not only for your service, but for your many sacrifices.  You are the biggest part of what keeps our nation strong and allows our hard-won freedoms and American way of life to endure.  God Bless our veterans and God Bless the U.S.A!!

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P.S. And may God Bless those impacted by the powerful typhoon that struck the Philippine Islands over this past weekend!