However, with this statement comes a huge "BUT". My dad served in the A®ir Force during the Cold War and has very strong Military beliefs and support. I was raised to honor and respect our Military and our flag as well. In school we studied all the reasons why, as well as what Independence Day is,along with all the other dates in history, blah, blah, blah. Yep, this is exactly what I thought about history. Get ready for it... here it is....BUT...Now it becomes personal. My son, Nathan, joined the Army seven years ago. I went with him when he signed up with the Army. Was I thrilled with this idea of his, heck no, scarred to death, heck yeah. Did I support him and was I the proudest mom ever, heck yes!, Now I'm an Army Mom, a part of the proud, the few, and the elite. Mike (Dear hubby) and I became volunteers and traveled to many Places and took many classes, to better learn about and help our Military Families, as our way of serving and helping. My parents volunteered their time to help out as well with Nathan's unit locally. All this history, all my dad's stories, just became personal and came to life and with meaning.
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| Battleship Missouri, Hawaii May 2015 by Stephi Goodwin/SU |
This would be a good place to mention and give some family history and how personal it all becomes. My brother, was born in Germany, while my dad served there during the Cold War Vietnam era, as an aircraft weapons mechanic and loading the bombs and on the aircrafts as well as all other weaponery armament . I also had a brother -in- law, who served in Germany and years later died protecting our hometown as a police officer in 1998. We have a close cousin, who served proudly on the front lines of Dessert Storm, and is married to and both retired from the Army. I have a nephew that served on the front lines in the Army at Afghanistan, who was hit by a remote detonated bomb, and is now medically retired and discharged. I have another nephew who has made it his career, currently serving in the Marines and has been deployed multiple times. We have several very dear personal friends, both male and female, who have fought the front battles who all thankfully have been able to return home to their family and friends. Our son, Nathan, served at GTMO, babysitting the worst of the worst terrorists. I will not even go into my thoughts about that with you. I hope all this lends some humility and respect as well as makes you appreciate a bit of old history with a bit of new history, that makes our country what it is today and one of the reasons we get to celebrate 4th of July. Because without these people past and present there is no country. Each of these people are our heroes in their own right, but are not looking for fame or notoriety. They each signed up for their own personal reasons and they each have their stories that aren't found in any of the history books, nor would they probably be allowed to be. The statement "freedom isn't free" may only be words to us and ones that we take for granted every day, but I can assure you the treachery and nightmares these men and women face everyday and everynight, eyes wide open, are not ones that we should soon forget, for they and their families know the real cost of freedom. Life is forever changed for all of them both physically, mentally, and psychologically. Freedom comes but not without a great deal of loss, sacrifice, and cost.
So what does this all mean today and why do you care, maybe you don't, but I hope you take something into consideration and at least take a brief moment in your weekend, and think about what living in our country means to you. It took on a whole new meaning to me once my son enlisted. We are fortunate enough to have our son home with us this year and some of our friends just returned from a deployment, so we have a lot to be thankful for, but our nephew and many others are not so fortunate this holiday. They are still holding the front lines to keep our country safe giving us a reason to celebrate this weekend. Thank you for your Service everyone!!
Hope you have had a wonderful weekend and was fortunate enough to spend time with friends and/or family.
Hugs and Prayers
Stephi
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