Veteran’s Day: Our Most Meaningful Holiday

My husband attended the Air Force Academy. Unlike most cadets, he never aspired to be a fighter pilot.

But somehow in this journey, not only did he come to love fighters, but he came to embrace its ultimate purpose: people in uniform defending our nation. In 1999, I met my husband who then was a young Captain in United States Air Force.

After twenty-five years, three kids, two dogs, thirteen moves, three continents, and two deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Veteran’s Day carries a weight of meaning that I never could have imagined.

It means saying farewell time and time again without a promise of return, it means telling our kids about daddy because their memories quickly fade. It means buying our 10th set of utensils because we couldn’t locate the boxes that have the other nine… It means new towns, new friends, new schools, doctors, church, trusted mechanics, vets all to defend our nation’s freedoms. We gladly serve our country and support our military family, but we also know that doing so comes at a great price, not only for our household hero, but collectively as a family. We know how to ask for help for everything but we’re also incredibly resilient when the help never comes.

Often, veterans and their families hide the emotional and physical scars of a life of service to this nation. As we remember all the uniformed men and women and their families on this November day, may we never forget their sacrifice. The freedoms we enjoy throughout our nation’s history are on the shoulders of those who are truly serving behind the scenes. Quite honestly there’s never enough words to say thank you but that’s exactly the point on this Veteran’s Day. It’s appreciating those who never sought your words of gratitude but simply were willing to answer our nation’s call.