Memorial Day

So Happy Memorial Day!!! I know that most of us get a long weekend and we fully enjoy a good barbeque to celebrate the beginning of summer, especially here in the Midwest where it's been a long hard winter until very recently. This day should signify these changes with a holiday and different celebrations with friends and family. My family started the day at the parade in our town with my son in the middle school band proudly playing the Battle Hymn of the Republic. But this day is about so much more than that.

Of course, it's about those who have fought for our freedom. It celebrates and honors those who have put their lives on the line in the best and worst of this nation's history. I had the pleasure of being raised by some veterans and very patriotic people which has made me very very proud to be an American. I always stand for the flag, hold my hand over my heart and sing the National Anthem with pride at every appropriate moment and have had the pleasure of sharing these values with my sons and other children as a Scout leader for several years. There is no way to measure the respect that I have for our military and for the men and women who have served in every capacity to protect our freedom.

This day in our family was often a sad one growing up. My mother's brother was killed in a car accident forty-one years ago on Memorial Day. I never met him, but I know that he was a very special person. His passing has always impacted our mother and grandmother on this day and I never really understood that pain until I became an adult, and then as a mother it took on another level of understanding. It's wierd to miss someone you've never met, but I miss him.

I also miss my Dad and Grandpa on this day. Both of them served this country with honor and taught me to love America the way they did. They taught me that even if you don't serve in the military that you should do your civic duty like excersize your voting rights whenever possible, do the right thing for your neighbor, that sort of thing. They were my heroes and I'll always remember them on this day as such.

Anyway, it's a special day. So hug your family, honor the veterans you know, and remember those who have sacrificed it all for our freedom. Thank you to all our heroes.