Until recently, I'd always thought of veterans as people in my grandfather's generation, and while they are veterans and we should be thankful to them, we should also thank the men and women of all ages who have served in wars and 'conflicts' and all the other names for it since then, and anyone who served in peace-time too. Facebook has helped me realize people my own age enlisted and were deployed. I wasn't close friends with them but friended them on FB since we went to high school together and see an occasional post from some who are still serving overseas.
I don't know if I could serve in the military - the most structure I've had was marching band and I wasn't even very good at that! I am grateful to everyone who has served, and to their families who have to worry about them and try to carry on as usual while their loved one is far from home. I don't know how the families do it. Kevin has spent a lot of nights away this semester to suit his school schedule and eating dinner alone and missing out on talking to him at night gets old. This situation is far from what they go through, I know that and I'm not at all trying to compare it, it has just made me think of what families must go through when they are apart for a much longer period of time.
Thank you to all the Veterans who serve, and to all of us - we should treat them as if every day was Veteran's day!
PS - I am going to love writing today's date - 11/11/11
Exactly. My college roomie's husband was deployed all of last year, and she has two young children and is trying to get a PhD. So not only is she a single parent in effect, for a WHOLE YEAR, but she's without her love for that long too. Her posts about "how do I buy a baseball glove" and such always got to me. I can't imagine doing that and I feel just as grateful to the families for their strength, and the sacrifices they make. Just amazing. Happy elevensies!
ReplyDeleteAmen. We owe those men and women so much!
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