GRATEFUL

Here I sit in the wee hours of Friday morning...wanting to go to bed...but first I just want to say a few words about those who made it possible for me to be, do, think, feel, say what I want.

Thank you to our "fathers" who knew this land was a great land, with diverse people who came from England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Poland, etc. to settle in this beautiful country of ours where it became known as the "melting pot" of the world.

Thank you for the Constitution of the United States.
Thank you for the Bill of Rights
Thank you for fighting for us to have all the freedoms we have of speech, religion, etc.
Thank you for those who gave their lives so we have what we have had for the last 235 years.
Thank you for your bravery, your courage, your blood.

I personally want to thank my Revolutionary ancestors Gabriel Hutchings, Daniel Bennett, Joshua Smith who all survived that war.  My War of 1812 ancestor Clark Bennett.  My Civil War ancestors who did not all come home but were taken prisoner at the infamous Andersonville Prison where two died, others were maimed or loss of limbs.  Grateful for my close family members who fought in World War II...my father, his brother and two other uncles; my cousin Nick in the Korean War; my cousin Steven in the Vietnam war. 

Seems like every generation has had to go to war to defend the right of freedom.  Right now I have a grandson (a marine) almost 19 years old who will be deployed to Afghanistan in September and my son-in-law Don is a Lt. Col. in the Army and is deployed in Germany, with already having been deployed twice in the last two years to Afghanistan.

I know you will join me in paying tribute to your ancestors, your current family members and neighbors who are sacrificing their time and at times their bodies or their lives for you and I to be able to sleep well at night, to be able to go to church, to shop, to get an education, to travel...to live.

Hang your flags.  Don't have one...buy one.  Display it proudly.  Look up your genealogy and find your ancestor who fought for our Independence.  They are our heroes!!  Have fun.