Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!  I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to all the men and women serving our country, both past and present!  I burst with pride when I think about my friends and family that are working hard to serve us.  I'm especially proud of my nephew John who is nearing his graduation date at Camp Benning going through Basic Training Course.  He is loving being a soldier!  He is fired up for Army life and is like a sponge soaking it all up.  


Some of you may not know that Joe was in the Army for a short time.  He went in after he had finished school at Baylor College of Dentistry and at that time, the Army did not offer to pay for any school loans.  It was  a terrific opportunity for us as a new family nonetheless.  We loved Army life and he would have stayed in if it weren't for the fact that Joe's student loans were coming due and he had deferred for as long as we could, and we couldn't afford to pay them back on his salary the Army paid him. Even with me working full-time on my nursing salary.   We made a huge leap of faith and started a practice with another couple in Killeen, Texas. 


 I have friends that are still in the Army and one friend who has served 3 tours (I believe) since 2004.  I have been asked not to talk about him and mention his name on the internet. During his last tour I wanted to give him a shout out many many times but was unable to due to the nature of his job in the Army. But I am extremely proud of him too.  And I'm so proud that when he comes back he is a sweet, gentle, and loving person to his family just as he's always been.  It's very hard to reconcile the two lifestyles and some people just can't do it.  But this one does.


I'm also proud of my baby boy who is a counselor at Boy's State for his 3rd time.  He's there right now.  He's very patriotic too and he loves those Veterans!  I went to see him while he was there the last two summers and he is very respectful and sweet to those men as they tell their stories.  My boy works nights as an unloader for a big store here in town and this year they wouldn't let him have the time off to go work as a counselor at Boy's State.  I figured he was going to have to miss for the first time.  But he is commuting.  He goes to camp and at night drives the 27 miles to go to work, and then goes back late at night after he's finished his job.  He dropped by home for a few minutes to say hello as he was heading back to be with the boys at camp last night and he was all smiles!  Please say a little prayer for him to keep making that trip safely as the week goes on.  I'm sure he's going to be exhausted.  I probably don't say it often enough, but I'm proud of him for being such a hard worker.  Going to school full-time and working as much as he can keeps him busy.  Next week he starts summer school too.  

I'm hoping everyone has had a wonderful weekend!   God Bless you friends!

Life is good!