God Bless Our Military

Yesterday, I was making my way from the parking lot into the grocery store and noticed a 70ish year old man in an orange vest pushing carts. People pushed quickly past him...cars came rushing by in order to get a good spot. I ended up catching up with him and noticed that he was wearing one of those Vietnam War/Korean War hats...it was an Air Force edition. My emotions overwhelmed me a bit and I quickly went over to him, got his attention, and said, "Sir, I see that you served for the Air Force in 'Nam and in Korea?" "Yes." He answered. I reached out and shook his hand, "Thank you, sir, for serving our country." His tired eyes lit up for a moment. For a split second, I could almost envision a handsome twenty-something young man standing there in a sharp, crisp military uniform rather than the worn jeans and orange grocery store work vest. "Thank you." He replied. A tear escaped my eye as I watched him continue to make his way slowly into the store with his line of carts. I had just shaken hands with a real, live....hero. Wow. The one thing I couldn't help but think- why is a hero like that pushing carts at a grocery store in his 70s? My blood boiled a little to think of how little these men are compensated for their sacrifice and how much we take them for granted. How much I take them for granted.

So, to all of my service member friends...retired or active duty- thank you. You are my heroes. You serve so others can enjoy freedom. You deserve so much more than a "thank you" in a short blog post, but I just wanted to show and share my appreciation. 

God bless our military members!