Thanks Dad!
http://www.setthestageforsuccess.com/articles/24132/1/Thanks-Dad/Page1.html
Denise Kennard
Denise is the co-owner and administrator of Competent Care Home Health Nursing in Costa Mesa, California. She has over twenty years of experience in home health nursing, in both bedside care and managerial roles. Denise is a member of California Association for Health Services at Home and serve in two committees. She is also a member of National Association of Women Business Owners and the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce.By Denise Kennard
Published on 11/12/2008
Yesterday was Veteran's Day. For many Americans, it's just another day
off. We appreciate the time with our family, and the kids rejoice to be
liberated from their schoolwork. Perhaps a few of us attend a special
ceremony honoring the veterans in our community. Yesterday I thought
about my dad.
Yesterday was Veteran's Day. For many Americans, it's just another day off. We appreciate the time with our family, and the kids rejoice to be liberated from their schoolwork. Perhaps a few of us attend a special ceremony honoring the veterans in our community. Yesterday I thought about my dad.
My dad was 19 when he enlisted in the US Army. He became a helicopter mechanic and joined the rest of the crew when they flew on missions, even into combat. Like most war vets, he saw things that he wishes he could erase from his memory—things that are chillingly clear over 50 years later. For $10 a day, my dad personified the US (the rest of us) to her enemies, serving as the target in the crosshairs of their malevolence.
By God's grace he survived, and after four years he was discharged, and he re-settled in Southern California.
Dad went back to school when he returned to the States. He studied to become a physician's assistant, and then he re-enlisted. He spent the next twenty-one years working in orthopedics, now repairing servicemen, rather than helicopters.
I am grateful to say that my dad is still very much alive. He did not die, untimely, in combat or fade away, harrowed, after years of reconstructing young men. My dad is still active; he still enjoys life. My dad served his country and her warriors for 25 years, and I am blessed to have him with me, and blessed to have had him during the years that I was growing up.
Veterans Day is a thank you to men like my dad, who gave some of the best years of his life to support his country and her soldiers.
Veterans Day is also a bittersweet thank you to families whose veterans are no longer with them. Those families remember sons and daughters, moms and dads and friends who didn't come home. What can we say to you on Veterans Day? What can your nation do to thank you? Do we do enough?
I read recently about a mom who lost her son in Iraq. I thought about my own sons. That mom gave her son so that my sons could live safely and freely. That warrior sacrificed his life to protect the lives of those who were weaker. How grateful I am for such moms and such young men. On Veterans Day I hope that their families know and feel the gratitude of their nation. To that mom and others like her, I pray that you might be blessed by God and your countrymen all year round.
My dad was 19 when he enlisted in the US Army. He became a helicopter mechanic and joined the rest of the crew when they flew on missions, even into combat. Like most war vets, he saw things that he wishes he could erase from his memory—things that are chillingly clear over 50 years later. For $10 a day, my dad personified the US (the rest of us) to her enemies, serving as the target in the crosshairs of their malevolence.
By God's grace he survived, and after four years he was discharged, and he re-settled in Southern California.
Dad went back to school when he returned to the States. He studied to become a physician's assistant, and then he re-enlisted. He spent the next twenty-one years working in orthopedics, now repairing servicemen, rather than helicopters.
I am grateful to say that my dad is still very much alive. He did not die, untimely, in combat or fade away, harrowed, after years of reconstructing young men. My dad is still active; he still enjoys life. My dad served his country and her warriors for 25 years, and I am blessed to have him with me, and blessed to have had him during the years that I was growing up.
Veterans Day is a thank you to men like my dad, who gave some of the best years of his life to support his country and her soldiers.
Veterans Day is also a bittersweet thank you to families whose veterans are no longer with them. Those families remember sons and daughters, moms and dads and friends who didn't come home. What can we say to you on Veterans Day? What can your nation do to thank you? Do we do enough?
I read recently about a mom who lost her son in Iraq. I thought about my own sons. That mom gave her son so that my sons could live safely and freely. That warrior sacrificed his life to protect the lives of those who were weaker. How grateful I am for such moms and such young men. On Veterans Day I hope that their families know and feel the gratitude of their nation. To that mom and others like her, I pray that you might be blessed by God and your countrymen all year round.