Veterans Day
So today is Veterans Day. Like Memorial Day, this is a day which didn't always have much meaning to me. I can remember when I was younger I would always mix up the words veteran and veterinarian; using the former, when I meant the latter. Technically anyone who has been in the services is a veteran, but for me a veteran is a combat veteran. Veterans were those guys who walked in parades, and to be honest something I saw more on TV and in the movies than in real life. A veteran was someone who fought a war over 30 years ago.
Not that I didn't respect veterans or wasn't thankful for what they had done, but their actions were so far in the past, that I was almost oblivious to their sacrifices.
But now I am dating a veteran. It's weird. I mean, he certainly doesn't look like the veteran, he isn't even 30 years old yet.
A week ago Sue sent me a video commemorating Veterans Day in Canada. And I watched the soldiers, young and old march by, and all of the sudden it struck me, that my boyfriend in 40 years or so, might also be one of those “old guys” walking in a parade, who had fought a war that was just a mere historical concept for many of the spectators.
Sap warning: And then I thought how extremely proud I am, and proud to think that if we get married one day, and have children, that our children can say that their Daddy served. That whenever they see a veteran, it will be more than just an abstract concept like it was for me.
Thank you to all our veterans for reminding us once again what sacrifice means.
Not that I didn't respect veterans or wasn't thankful for what they had done, but their actions were so far in the past, that I was almost oblivious to their sacrifices.
But now I am dating a veteran. It's weird. I mean, he certainly doesn't look like the veteran, he isn't even 30 years old yet.
A week ago Sue sent me a video commemorating Veterans Day in Canada. And I watched the soldiers, young and old march by, and all of the sudden it struck me, that my boyfriend in 40 years or so, might also be one of those “old guys” walking in a parade, who had fought a war that was just a mere historical concept for many of the spectators.
Sap warning: And then I thought how extremely proud I am, and proud to think that if we get married one day, and have children, that our children can say that their Daddy served. That whenever they see a veteran, it will be more than just an abstract concept like it was for me.
Thank you to all our veterans for reminding us once again what sacrifice means.
posted by CaliValleyGirl at 3:10 PM
2 Comments:
I remember thinking that same thing, that someday my kids will say "Daddy was in Iraq"...
I too like Sarah, have thought that someday we will whip out the DVDs that we burned of his time in Afghanistan and show them to our kids. His father has photos from Vietnam and I sit there just glue to my seat listening to him tell his tales.
HH6
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