Memorial Day

Apologies for the absence. My mother was in the hospital and she, thankfully, has returned home in better health than she enjoyed before. The experience, however, for those of you that haven't gone through this kind of thing, leaves you exhausted, and behind.

This Memorial Day I planned nothing special. Laundry. It's been a while since I had done any for myself, did I mention I fell behind on everything recently? My nineteen year old daughter surprised us all with a family movie afternoon and chose, for this Memorial Day, Top Gun for our viewing pleasure.

Some background here....I met and was dating my husband during the time when this movie was released. He was not a Naval Aviator, but a Naval Submariner, and I remember the pride of our forces and especially of our sailors ran very high in those days. I could not help but watch this movie today and remember, again with pride, the service my husband and those like him have given so selflessly to this country. The movie definitely showed some of the best of the Navy during that time, all adventure, confidence and well, nice looking guys in white uniforms? I digress....

I meet young military men and women today and am still filled with that sense of pride and thanks and want them all to know how grateful I am to them for the job they do that helps me and my family be safe at home. I know the anti-war gang out there would like us to believe that any terror threat is so attenuated for us here in the homeland that we don't need to be fighting anyone abroad....such naivetee will be the death of us all.

My father-in-law served in WWII in the Navy, as well as my uncle, who served as a Naval Officer in the Pacific. My dad was in the Coast Guard here in the Puget Sound region. I have had sons-in-law in the Air Force and a daughter who continues to show interest in serving today, with a war in full swing, and our future uncertain with respect to the threats we face from Radical Islam would-be martyrs. I look forward to the day that I return to Arlington to visit my father-in-law's place of rest, and to give my thanks to all of those who rest around him.

So, remember them today, and every day, with thanks and gratitude, because without these brave young men and women we would have no new individuals to remember in future Memorial Days and our country would face great peril. It is not that we want to have more young people die in service, but it is clear to me, that freedom can only be preserved with the occasional spilling of blood. It is with wonder I see generation after generation continue to turn out young men and women eager to serve, and I think it says a lot for our country, its values traditions and principles, that serves as the foundation for these young people to make such a decision to serve.

And hey, watching Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer play volleyball ain't all bad either...