A Note of Thanks

When I was hired to teach high school, one of the courses they asked me to take on was American History. Me? History? I was an English Major who hadn't had a history class since my freshman year in college. How could I possibly teach the subject?

Long story short, over the next 5 years, I learned to love American History because I had to work so hard to learn it. Since I've had the children, I have tried to teach them the value of being an American. I have gone out of my way to teach them that the men and women who serve in the military are true heroes who sacrifice so much to keep us safe. When they see a soldier, they have been trained to say, "Thank you for keeping us safe!"

Lately I’ve realized that although I prompt my kids to say these things to express our gratitude, I rarely do it myself. So, a few months ago I vowed to change that.

Last week as we sat down to eat lunch at the pool, another mom with two young children joined us. We chatted for awhile about swim lessons, vacations at Disney and the like. As I got up to go, she mentioned that her Disney tickets were free because her husband serves in the army.

I looked her in the eye and, although I thought she may think I was a little crazy, I told her to thank her husband for me. I told her that I was grateful for his willingness to put his life on the line for us. I also thanked her because I know that when her husband is deployed it is a tremendous sacrifice on her part.

I tried to walk away quickly, but her gaze stopped me in my tracks. She had a tear in her eye and said that NOBODY had ever said that to her before. I was so grateful that on that day, I got over my self consciousness and said what I was thinking.

From now on, I will do that more often...and I hope you will too. This weekend let’s all go out of our way to thank someone in the service. Regardless of your politics, these men and women have given their lives in the name of all of us. The very least we can do is to thank them.

To all of you who have served our country over the years to make it what it is today as well as all of you who are currently serving, I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!