God Bless America!

 

I said to someone a few weeks ago, that I have been to more funerals and visitations in the last ten years than it seems one should have to experience.  And somehow, as always seems to be the way, they come in groups, so that you can no more gather yourself and your emotions from one, when your right smack in the middle of another.

I have told you all before, that I am not exceptionally emotional; but a well preached sermon at a funeral, or even more than that, when family members say a few words from their heart for their recently deceased, well, I’m the next best thing to a sprung leak on a fire hydrant.

I don’t even have to know the deceased personally, it’s usually just enough that I know the person who is speaking, and because I can feel their pain and loss in my heart, it all becomes crazily enough, personal for me.

In addition to all of the above, I also cry almost every single time the National Anthem is sang/played. Whether I’m watching it on television and someone is singing it exceptionally well, or 

I’m standing in a set of bleachers at a high school football game, or a 4^th of July fireworks event; it just happens. My heart swells with pride for where I live, my freedoms, and my ability to appreciate them both.

I recently attended a funeral of a close friend’s father and I was able to experience several things that day. I heard family talk with alternating seriousness, love and humor about the brother and father they both loved very much and would miss even more.

But after the funeral I attended my very first military grave-side service; complete with the presentation of the flag and the blowing of the bugles playing Taps. It was one of the most stirring services I have ever been to in my life. I, of course, had seen them many times on television, but nothing compares to the firsthand experience that I had that day. It was a huge representation of honor and respect for both who he was to our country in the past, who he was/is to all the family and friends in attendance, and how much he was appreciated by both for his service to our country.

It was an honor to attend, even as nothing more than a friend of the family bystander and watch the faces of each of the loved ones, and the love that was surrounding the entire service that day.

So, I’m going to close with this: I usually write about all the fireworks, the watermelon eating contests and the sack races every year about this time. And while that is a part of how we celebrate the 4^th of July, it’s not why we celebrate the 4^th of July.

We are celebrating our freedom that so many men and women died for over the years, and for the men and women today that continue that fight. That’s what the National Anthem represents – freedom; and our ability to enjoy it.  And it is my opinion that we are all responsible for at least respecting that freedom. God Bless America.