Grateful #11- The United States Military

Today, I'm grateful for those who serve in the military. When you grow up somewhere like Fayetteville, even if you are not from a military family, the US Army influences your life in a thousand ways each and every day. Probably half the people I've met in my life (maybe more), I met because they served in the military.

When Andy served in the National Guard, he didn't like to go anywhere in uniform. He didn't want  people to tell him, "thank you" if they ran into him while he was picking up something at HEB. He doesn't want to promote what he considers the idolization of a "hero class." Because, according to him, not everyone who serves in the military is a "hero." Like all professions, there are "good" soldiers and "bad" soldiers, just as there are "good" doctors and "bad" doctors, "good" teachers and "bad" teachers, and so on.

But today, I'm grateful for the many good soldiers that I've met. Because the reality is, being a good soldier does require sacrifices that being a good teacher or a good doctor does not require. Andy didn't ever deploy to a combat zone while he served in the military, but that doesn't mean that he didn't want the chance. He really wanted to put his life in danger in order to be a part of defending freedom. Being willing to offer the days of your life in an effort to promote freedom is a noble thing, and I am thankful for every soldier who earnestly answers that call and defends with purity of heart and mind.

I'm also grateful for military wives, because... come on, how can we even have a day to offer gratitude for soldiers and not at the same time consider their wives and families? Surely the best soldiers I know are the ones who have the most support behind them. How these women selflessly love their husbands from a distance, and then again up close, over and over and over again, is just beyond me. They are constantly called upon to be both mom and dad for months on end. They absorb dramatic change in their family and home dynamic. They endure separation from their extended families, and from their husbands. It's a hard life. I am just humbled by some of the military wives I know. They are women of iron beauty- strong and selfless. To those women, and the men they love and support- today, I am grateful for you.