Big Thanks to Our Veterans

For the past few years, M has written a poem for my granddad (who served in WWII) for Veteran's Day. He often commented how her "thanks" made it all worth it, and that touched me so deeply. I mean, seriously, an eight year old girl says "Thank you" and all those years in the jungle of the Phillipines are all worth it?! Wow!

Granddad passed away this summer, so I sat at the school's (excellent) Veteran's Day concert last week, feeling sad that we couldn't do that tradition this year. Suddenly, I realized that we know 3 families from church whose husbands/daddies are currently serving in the Army! Hmmm.

So, after talking to their wives, the girls & I decided to make these great big cookies as a small token of our appreciation. One just returned home this summer from a year long deployment in the Middle East, another leaves for his 4th tour over there in Feb for an expected year. The third has served multiple tours & and is currently a recruiter. The girls each wrote a letter (complete with illustrations) and I wrote a letter, too. We are so grateful to all our service men and women who have given and continue to give so much to our country.

The best part of the whole day - even better than eating the dough - was watching these men's expressions as we delivered the unexpected treat. We could tell that they aren't used to being personally thanked very often. We've created our new favorite Veteran's Day tradition! Next year, I hope to be able to include local men & women we know who've served in the past as well (but I've got to figure out who they are - it's not really something that most really talk much about). It was just a terrificly humbling experience...how do you really put this kind of admiration and gratitude into words (or cookies)? It was a WAY better day than spending it at the mall, "honoring" the Veteran's Day Sales (although I'm sure there were some pretty good deals out there). THANK YOU, Veterans!