Kudos

This Memorial Day is especially poignant to me as it is my first one without my dad. He always told us stories of growing up in Central Florida in the 20's and 30's and the big deal Memorial Day was. There were actually Civil War vets marching in the Lakeland Memorial Day parade! My dad was a patriot who served his country, loved his country and never forgot the men who died to make us free. Nothing made him angrier than seeing Memorial Day become a day of sales and picnics and three-day weekends. (mr. herewegoagain reminds me that he DID enjoy the picnics!).

Today we went to see Hailey speak at our small-town cemetary. By big city standards, the crowd was small, but the entire ceremony was so very moving. Hailey's award-winning speech touched all our hearts, and the crowd of veterans who had arrived to place flags on so many graves, and to fire a 21-gun-salute reminded us that small towns are the heart of the military. It's from small towns that our finest men leave to see the world and to fight and sometimes, to die for us. Hailey's dad (a Viet Nam Vet) was part of the VFW honor guard today. Her brother was in the crowd, home from two tours in Iraq. Her cousin is still serving there. They both went in as boys I knew from young teenage-hood and came home as men. My dad left Lakeland, Florida as a 17-year-old sailor--having never been out of Florida. He ate his first rare steak with Navy buddies, had his first pizza in New York City and shipped off to WWII as a kid. Like a lot of those kids, the war changed him. And when he came home, he was part of the greatest generation that shaped this country and made it what it is today.

Hailey is part of a new generation that is shaping this country. I'm so proud when I see what it is doing to support our men and women in uniform. Here is what our "next greatest generation" is up to. Kudos.