Patriots

I'm not talking about the New England NFL team, and I'm not talking about the Mel Gibson movie either....I'm talking about everyday real life PATRIOTS. In our family we are lucky enough to have 2 personal heroes-Colonal Mark Allison and Colonal Doug Martone to whom on this day we honor and say...Thank You because-this truly is the Home of the Free BECAUSE of the Brave!

Glad to have the day off due to the holiday, I headed out with the kids this morning to run a few errands. 30 seconds after getting in the car, I realized that we were catching the tail end of the Veteran's Day parade here in town. There were military personel everywhere and a 24 hour vigil taking place on the lawn in front of the college-it was a really beautiful site. It's hard to explain, but seeing that many soldiers around town gave me mixed emotions.

Seeing all this-I felt:

• ashamed-that I took the holiday for granted, so much that I had NO CLUE about taking my kids to a parade to show their respect for our men & women in uniform

• safe-because it was a visual confirmation that there are hundreds of these selfless human beings across the nation ready to protect & defend at all cost

but most of all I was...

• PROUD....really proud. I did not know ANY of the men & women I saw today, but I know that I am grateful for everything they do for our country. I know this because I know how hard my dad & Mike's dad have worked for our freedom (my dad serving in the middle east at various times and Mike's dad flying planes in Vietnam)

It is crazy to think of the things we take for granted everyday like a simple mid-week day of observance. This morning-I decided to stop long enough to think about it and it brought tears to my eyes and I called my dad to thank him for my "day off" and for his allegiance to our beautiful country.
Back when I was a kid, my dad had recently returned from another tour overseas to Saudi Arabia or some such place. Soon after being home, he framed a newspaper photograph and hung it on a wall in our house. This picture is very clear in my mind today-just as it was back then and is at various times throughout the year-it was a picture of an Iraqi or Afghan man clenching the american flag & kissing it-with tears streaming down his face.....to this day-words can't express the things that picture portrays.

In a day in age where schools no longer require a routine pledge of allegiance to start the morning-I vowed that my preschoolers would recite it everyday in honor of our military heroes. They are only 3 and 4 years old but by golly-when the Pledge of Allegiance song comes on by Lee Greenwood-they stand completely still with their little hands on their hearts-looking at the flag and show their respect in their own way....through reverence for 4 whole minutes EVERY DAY-and you know what....they actually love it! They know it is their way of saying "thank you" to the people who have died for them, enabling them at 3 and 4-to have the freedom to make their own choices in our country. At these young ages, being able to make a choice for themselves is a HUGE deal....a great privilege. Part of the song they sing during our flag salute says:

The pledge to the flag, is a pledge to the ideals of our Forefathers,

The men who fought and died, for the building of this great nation.

It is a pledge to fullfill our duties and obligations as citizens of the Untied States.

And to uphold the principals of our constitution.

And last but not least, it is a pledge to maintain the four great Freedoms cherished by all Americans:

Freedom of speech, Freedom of religion,

Freedom from want, and Freedom from fear...

So my point is-if someone who has only been on this earth for 3 or 4 years can spend 4 minutes a day to stop, think & show their respect-what does that mean I can do with 28 years behind me?