I seem to be doing two days at a time this week, and sure didn’t mean that to happen. It’s just been a crazy, hectic week.
Today is Veteran’s Day, a day when we honor those who have given service to our country. Today I am most thankful for all of those men and women. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice of their life.
I have long been a supporter of our military. I am amazed at their dedication and how selfless they tend to be. Several years ago, I found myself newly separated and facing the holidays alone for the first time. I decided I needed to find something that would keep me busy and take my mind off of all of that “alone” time. That was my first venture into supporting our deployed military. My house fast began to look like a department store as I stocked up on things to send to the troops.
Little did I know how much that experience would change me and my thoughts. I learned so much from those men and women and received so much more back than I could have ever given.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago, when I signed up to write letters to a deployed soldier. We communicated via email, and he was usually pretty fast to write back. One message he sent told such a touching story of how he had helped save a young Afghan child and got her to medical care. I remember him saying he wanted to write this all down so that his son (who was 5 at the time) would some day be able to read that and perhaps understand why his daddy had to miss things like his birthday and Christmas.
Then one day, his responses stopped coming. I learned by going to the group I belonged to that he had been killed in action. Thomas Baysore gave the ultimate sacrifice, his life, and left behind his wife and son. His wife and son have since created a Facebook page to commemorate his life and to help his son deal with his father being gone. It was and continues to be heart breaking.
Yet, in the end, from the short amount of time we communicated, he was simply doing what he believed he was supposed to do. He was serving his country and doing that so that all of us could enjoy the freedoms we have today. I am so grateful for that.
I encourage you to find a vet today and thank them for their service. It is so often overlooked and it is sure not something we should neglect to do.
What are you thankful for today?
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