Today is my first Veteran's Day without my grandpa and something just feels a little bit off. For you, Veteran's Day might conjure up images of military cemeteries and waving flags. This is what Veteran's Day always feels like for me:
Timing my phone call so that it was late enough for chores to be over, but early enough so that he wouldn't be eating what he called dinner and what I called lunch. The phone would ring six, seven, eight times before he would pick up, his voice thick and gravelly, a complication of his stroke.
"Hi Grandpa, thanks for serving."
He would call me sweet, call me a good girl, and ask me about school. That was the most important phone call I would make each year.
I don't know who to call this year, or what I would say, even if I did have someone else to call. So instead, I'll be thankful for every day of freedom, I'll listen to "Proud to Be an American" and cry my eyes out like I always do, and I will give myself liberty to admit how much I miss my grandpa.
To all the men and women in the United States military: Thank you for serving, from the very bottom of my heart.
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2 comments:
Usually I don't think too much about Veteran's Day, especially when I was overseas. But some how today and this weekend seemed to be especially different.
Thanks for saying everything I wanted to say.
I'm sad that my gpa died when I was in junior high, too self-centered and young to appreciate his service and thank him for it. I wish I could, especially in times like this.
I do call my mom every year and thank her though, and I know she appreciates it. How lonely it would be to not be thanked or feel like anyone appreciated you risking your life for them.
I wish everyone who was/is in the military could know how grateful we are.
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