Before I sign off for the day, as I have rewrites to touch up, tick/flea medicine to pick up from the vet, birthday party things to sort out (my daughter's 13th this weekend) I wanted to link y'all to a post that made me absolutely choke up. I make no bones about my respect for the military, for my respect for anyone that puts their life on the line so that I can have a Starbucks on every corner, my kids can bad mouth politicians in school, and so that we here in the US can continue to live our ridiculously privileged lives. Well, some of us here get to.
My son wants to become an army doctor, and has begun the steps to fulfill that goal, so maybe that's why I got weepy. Or possibly because my father is a Vet. And my grandfather served in WW2 in the Navy in the Pacific. And my stepfather was a medic, chopper-jockey, and in Special Forces in the Vietnam war and still carries the scars of his three tours to this day. A girlfriend of mine is married to a man that was a Navy Seal in the first Gulf War and suffers from Gulf War Syndrome. And is one of the sweetest fathers I've ever known - he hides his demons at night, she tells me.
I get choked up seeing military flying on airplanes, not knowing if they're coming or going, but I smile at them all the same. This whole post of "coming home" pictures is absolutely wonderful and heartbreaking and wonderful. You don't have to agree with the war to feel empathy for the men and women that are caught in it and doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. <3