how do you say thanks?

i was raised in a patriotic family. we always watched fourth of July celebrations. i always said the pledge to the flag. always took my minutes of silence when thinking about our veterans. and my father never allowed a jane fonda video in our house. i married a patriotic boy. we painted a giant (floor to ceiling) United States flag in our garage after 9/11. my boy loves all airplanes and watches many documentaries on the army, navy, and air force. we both have grandparents that served during war times. with all of that history between us, how do you say thanks to all of the service men and women who sacrifice everything for us to be safe?

a few months after zella was born, my sisters kids (the greatest nieces and nephew ever) came over and stayed the weekend with us. some of our friends asked why would we take on 3 more kids and a new born? because they are the best kids ever! they helped me do the dishes, and fold towels. leah, helped make dinner and they cleaned up after. they played with/held zella for hours upon hours.

during this weekend, we took the kids to the annual Luke-days. this is on the Luke air force base and they open up the base to the public. they have all kinds of air planes and old air planes on display. you can take pictures and go inside some of the planes. there are all kinds of air shows that go on that day. there are soldiers every where and alot of veterans. it is truly amazing.

it was in march of 2005 when we went. and security was extremely high at the base. we waited in line for an hour to get onto the base. there were people every where. there was a little boy behind us, about 5 years old. and the whole time we were in line, he kept asking his mom and dad when he could see his soldiers. they kept telling him, soon. as we got closer to the front of the line, you could start to make sense of the lines and all of the security that we would be soon going through. and the little boy kept asking about his soldiers. we began seeing sings about what would and would not be allowed on the base. after a few of these signs, and closer to the front of the entrance, there were soldiers. all dressed up and looking amazing. standing guard by the security tables. we had been talking to the people around us and had talked with this little boy in line behind us. he was so excited to see his soldiers. as we got closer to them, the little boy broke loose from his mothers hand and ran up to a soldier . the boy ran right up to him, put his little shoes toe to toe with the soldier, stood up as straight as he could, and saluted him. and said in a whisper, "excuse me, soldier. but thank you for protecting my family and my country." the soldier looked down and slowly brought his hand up and saluted the little boy and said "you are most welcomed". he put his hand in his pocket and handed the little boy a flag sticker. patted him on the head. the little boy was so proud and was smiling from ear to ear. he ran back to his mom and began showing everybody around him his sticker.
i had tears falling from my eyes. and i remember being so proud of my country, so proud of my soldiers and so hopeful for our future because of this little boys love of his country.

so how do you say thank you? maybe the answer is passing the love and pride of our country onto the next generation. i pray that our country is full of little boys (and girls) who can't wait to show their love and pride they have for this beautiful country.

happy veterans day to everyone
jill b