It’s the end of Memorial Day weekend and Derrick & I spent the weekend in a small slice of heaven which turned out to be a very chilly-non-sunny place leaving us inside most of the weekend playing games, reading, watching movies, with 2 long walks thrown in in an attempt to combat all the yummy [but bad for us] food that we ate.
It left a lot of time to think. And during church yesterday, they showed this video and recognized the veterans who were attending the service – my Grandfather stood up as one of them. I struggled to hold back tears as the reality of the sacrifice of so many of my Grandfather’s friends came to a bit more of a reality, and also knowing that my Pap who was a WWII veteran is no longer with us to recognize.
Chaplain Jared Vineyard from North American Mission Board on Vimeo.
I honestly don’t believe we thank our veterans enough. Seriously, these men & women are our heros and they deserve our honor & praise above so many others that we idolize for petty reasons.
Back in the day, when I worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken, there was a sweet older lady who would come thru our drive-thru every Tuesday evening to order our Country Fried Steak special. She wanted to replace the coleslaw with green beans & wanted Pepsi to drink. She had finger-nails like the witch in the movie “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves”, but she was super sweet and we would always chat for a few minutes at the window. The day came when I realized she was wearing dog-tags and when I asked about them, she responded with a small smile that she had been in the service as a young woman. I’ll never forget how she teared up when I simply said, “Wow, thank you for your service.” She stared at me for a moment as what I had said sunk in, and she responded, “No one has ever said that to me before.”
Ever since, I have made it my goal to tell military personal “thank you” whenever I see them. But, I know I don’t say it enough. In fact, I’m not sure I ever told my Pap “thank you” before he passed away – and I wish that I could have. He was a great man who received medals and honors that we didn’t even know he had until he passed away & my Grandma found them.
So, I want to publicly say thank you – to my Pap who has passed away and who’s memory will always bring tears to my eyes, to my Grandpa who I was privileged to spend this past weekend with – and to Derrick’s Grandpa as well. What these and countless other men and women have done in serving their country deserves the highest honor –
thank you.
