Thank You

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. - John Quincy Adams

Last week, my 3-year-old was in awe watching the 4th of July fireworks in stimulus overload.  He would get so excited each time there was a big blast and he made sure to ask everyone around him if we all saw that one.  I loved watching his face light up with the reflections of red and blue shining back in his eyes.  My older kids were the same way at that age - completely mesmerized by the light show.  To me, the best part of any firework show is watching the kids caught up in the moment with the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background.

Any time I hear the National Anthem sung properly (not the Roseanne Barr version), I get goosebumps and start to cry.  I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to live and raise my family in a country founded on the belief that freedom should come at any cost and I am eternally grateful for every soul sacrificed long before my time to allow me the rights some may take for granted.  While I personally never served in the Armed Forces, I have known many people brave enough to say "Send me" when their country needs them; my 17-year-old son will leave for Marine boot camp on Monday and I could not be any prouder of him. 

Each generation faces different military power struggles.  My kids have never performed a nuclear air raid drill at school.  I never experienced waiting on draft cards of friends and family to be pulled.  I think with each generation we become one more step removed from truly knowing the original cost of freedom that Adams was talking about. 

Thank you to every man and woman who ever put on the uniform.  Thank you to each parent who raised a child strong enough to cut the apron strings and soar.  I hope all parents pass on the meaning behind the Anthem to their children so that it doesn't just become a hollow song 50 years down the road.  May you always shed a tear during the Star Spangled Banner and never forget the ones that picked up the tab.