I am thankful for Veterans

How appropriate than to be able to be grateful for Veteran's in my month long quest to be thankful everyday. So, I'd first like to say that I am thankful for my man (again). He served in the Air Force for close to 4 years when we were young and adventurous. Vance was about 16 months old when Ben left for basic training. He flew with me to Texas to see Ben graduate. We all then moved to Buloxi, Mississippi while he did his training. No, he did not serve in any foreign country (although the 4 years in Albuquerque seemed foreign some of the time,) and he never fought in any war, but he did serve. So, even though he has to work every year, we always take him out to eat. Most of the time we hit Souper Salad cause that is the kids favorite restaurant. Is there anything my man can't or hasn't done? Hardly.

Ben and the kids after our fabulous lunch.

On our way to lunch, we stopped at the cemetary to honor my Grandaddy Simmons. He served in WWII as a Chief Warrant Officer. I had the wonderful priveledge of writing his life history and hearing many of his stories of serving in the war. One story imparticular is about him being asked to go along on a flight as co-pilot on a small mission. He went to the MD to get checked out for flight and was denied because of an inner ear infection. He was dissappointed, and would not get another chance for such an adventure. But, blessings come in all sorts of ways. That pilot and his co-pilot were shot down and MIA for almost 40 years. They finally found the remains in the 80's and Grandaddy shared with me the newspaper article he found. I may not even be here if it weren't for that ear infection.

The kids took a few moments and wiped all the dead grass off of the marker, then found a water bottle and t-shirt to clean it up nicely for Grandaddy.

Me, telling them the story of Grandaddy's ear infection that turned out to be a blessing.

The kids minus Vance sitting around Grandaddy's grave marker at the Mesa City Cemetary.

I can't close my post without mentioning the other fabulous vets in our lives. My Uncle Gary served as a marine in Vietnam, his son and my cousin Scotty is in the Army reserves and is on his 3rd(?) deployment right now to the middle east. Ben's sister Sarah served a tour in Iraq in the Air Force a few years back as a nurse. We have many friends from our time in the Air Force, too many to mention really, and many friends that we have come to know have served. Thank you to all of you for your sacrifice.