Soccer Mom: Unplugged

Retirement time is fast approaching.  It won't be much longer before the Colonel wraps up his military career and our family settles into civilian life.  As we traveled East this past weekend to finalize the purchase of our "retirement" home, we've had the wonderful opportunity to spend a little time with my family.  Driving south on I-95, we were met with billboard after billboard advertising the Airborne and Special Operations Museum just outside of Fort Bragg, NC.  It was so nice to see signs with slogans like "How do you think America stays free?"  and "Sleep in Peace, we're standing guard."  With so much anti-military sentiment building among the leftist peaceniks in this country,  it really felt like old home week.  Like I was returning to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Then, on Easter Sunday, a lay speaker at my parent's church spoke about the death and resurrection of Christ.  In describing the New Testament passage, "greater love hath no man than this" this man, now almost 90 years old, shared a personal experience from his World War II days.  As a young officer, he and his men were on patrol when a hand grenade was thrown right into their midst.  They all reacted with complete shock, just standing mouths agape.  All that is but one, the wise and battle hardened platoon sergeant, threw himself onto the grenade and lost his life absorbing the shock of the explosion and sparing his fellow soldiers.  The willingness to lay down one's life for others is not unique to the Savior, he said, but only Christ had the power to take his life up again and to die, not to save our bodies, but our souls.  It was a beautiful story and a reminder, not just of the sacrifice on the cross, but of just how selfless our soldiers have to be in performing their service to the nation.

Soldiers are such a hodgepodge - a melting pot of Americans, united, in spite of their vast array of differences, in one noble and necessary cause.  Growing up among them, the daughter of a retiree, I seriously underestimated the dedication that soldiering requires.  I couldn't see past human flaws to the honorable service they were providing.  Thank God for my husband, who stole my heart before I ever saw him in BDUs and who took me on the most incredible journey into the real heart of America. 

Thank you to all of the Americans who recognize and respect the sacrifice made by men and women in uniform.  Your words of appreciation are powerful tokens and mean so much to those sent all over the world to do our nation's bidding.