Making memories one day at a time.......and then I write about it.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Thank You!

The Story.  We heard about it here first.  One of our own from a town about 30 minutes south of us.  So young.  Could have been one of my sons.  I didn't know him personally.  I don't know his family.  It doesn't matter.  He died for me.  He died for you.  He died fighting the war on terrorism.  He's our brother.


His body was flown into our local airport yesterday afternoon.  Center street was lined with hundreds and hundreds of flags.  Streets lined with people who wanted to show their respect.  Every soldier should get this welcoming home and recognition and respect.


My boys.  Understanding the solemnity of the occasion and the respect required.


Boys not much younger than the young man age 21 who sacrificed so much for us.


Beautiful.  Tears streaming down our faces.  Our flag.  A symbol of the cost of freedom.


 It begins.  Police cars escorting the fallen soldier and his family.  They cover both lanes causing people to pull off and sit quietly in the cars.


As they pass us, and before heading onto the Interstate to travel south, they pass under this flag that has been strung across the road.  Beautiful.  Tears streaming down our faces.  Hands over our hearts.


God bless America, land that I love.  To the fallen soldiers and their families they have left behind, God bless you, and thank you!


9 comments:

  1. Rachel, thank you for sharing this...
    What a powerful reminder that the freedoms we enjoy were bought with a price far higher than we sometimes acknowledge. How much we owe those who have given their lives in our defense.

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  2. You and Kristen both did a wonderful job of sharing this heart tugging moment. Nothing easy about any of it, but lessons learned for the future...a better future.
    I remember standing with a tiny flag as bus loads of young soldiers left for a war from our Camp Dawson....tears streaming.

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    1. I keep trying to teach my sons that no one wins in war. No one....... Such young men with the freedom of our country on their shoulders. Oh my heart.........

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  3. And tears streaming here too. I am reminded of a soldier killed a few years ago - a woman my son had cause to know. A mother. So very difficult. So undeniably real.

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    1. Life. So fragile. So much we take for granted. Gone in seconds. A good reminder.

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  4. To appreciate the sacrifice some make for the protection and freedom of others is a special and humbling thing. So humbling to see your boys honoring the fallen.

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    1. Humbling that my boys are of the age for them to be one of the ones who protect us! Makes my mommy heart stutter a little.....

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