Veterans Day 2011

Happy Veterans Day!

I just wanted to take a timeout and thank those who have served, are currently serving, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could enjoy our many freedoms. I am so thankful for each and every one of you! THIS is what makes America great!

To my beloved husband Ross: I will always admire your courage, strength, and loyalty. I am thankful for those 3 years, 9 months and howevermanyodd days you spent away from family and friends. I'm thankful for your 2 tours in Iraq, but I'm more thankful for your safe return home. I'm also grateful for the 4 years that followed without another call of duty. That time wrapped up  this summer when you were honorably discharged on July 29, 2011.

I will never forget running into you in your dress blues in 2006, when I was teacher-assisting at the school. You were home on leave and going to surprise your mom at work. We had grown up together, but it had been a while since I'd last seen you. For weeks after that, I kept telling her..."he's so...amazing." Little did we know things were just getting started.

Fast-forward a year and you were home for good. April 7th, I won't forget. We had a party for you, and at some point in the night you came over and talked to me. You told me about that day at the school. About how you had thought about me in Iraq. You remembered.

Time passed and we became close friends. Then we dated. On 8/26/09 we were engaged. We married 9/18/10. Hands down, the best days of my life.

The war will always be a part of you, nontheless a part of you I admire and respect. You talk about it every once in a while, but I've learned to listen without asking too many questions.  "There's a time and a place for everything," you say. It's not that it was hard, or bad. It was just different. And it's done now--it's in the past. You've got such a humility about the subject. But you're a HERO.  

You're my hero. 

And I'm thankful for you.