Today is Veterans Day. Here is a picture of my favorite veteran, my dad:
He's my favorite veteran for obvious reasons, but there are many other veterans who would also be favorites: my father-in-law, an Army veteran, and my Florida pastor Keith Spencer and his wife, Piper Spencer, Navy veterans, for example. I think of one of my best friends from high school, Chum Kimsey:
The above picture is from 2014, when she had just been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which would take her life. She served in the Army in the late 80's and early 90's.
Yesterday we watched a Veterans Day concert, which made me feel both grateful and teary-eyed. I thought of our current country, how few people serve in this way, even as many people say they support our military. The concert contained footage from an Honor Flight event, which made me think of my own experience with my dad and sister on a similar trip.
It was both a joyful trip and a somber one, being surrounded by living veterans, all older than 65, and the monuments to the wars that they fought. It was a sobering reminder of the ultimate cost that so many veterans pay/paid.
I am also thinking of all the quilters I know who make quilts for veterans as a way to say thank you:
I'm not at a point yet where I could do that--but this morning, I'm wishing that I could show gratitude in this way, a way that results in a beautiful quilt. For this morning, though, words will have to do.
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