Remembering

On Memorial Day, I wanted to send a shout-out to all the veterans out there. What an amazing gift they give us. One night I was having a nightmare about terrorist in our neighborhood and I was calmly/frantically gathering my children and securing our home and I woke up in the middle of the night in my warm comfy bed, a little shaken, but with the realization that I slept warmly and safely in my bed and there were service men and women out there who were away from home, missing the ones they love, sleeping on the ground and eating MRE's. I was so grateful at that moment for their service. I will only know a handful of these people. Who am I? They'll probably never know me, but I am a fellow American and they do it for me.
One of the servicemen I do know, is my father-in-law. One Sunday I was in charge of a fireside for our youth. I'd asked my f-i-l if he would come share some of his experiences. While sitting at dinner, he asked me, "What type of address should I give?" I half-heartedly said, "Oh, just give 'em gory details and you'll hold their attention the whole time." Oh, man. I regretted that. Not for the reason you're thinking. It wasn't because he had really gory details, because he did. It was because of the pain and suffering he experienced then, does now, and the pain that it cost him to share it with us. I wished so much that I hadn't asked him to do that. I also wished I'd thought to tape it because I want my children to know his experiences, but I don't think I could ever ask him to relate them again.
My f-i-l was a door-gunner in Vietnam and this is a poem another soldier wrote and posted on YouTube, honoring those door-gunners. It's really neat:

Man In The Door

SO THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, that I get to sleep safe and warm in my bed at night AND that you even go to other counties so that they can sleep safe in their beds too. Many have paid the ultimate price. They're all my hero's.