Bombs Still Bursting In Air

It's 2:30 PM on the Friday of a 4th of July weekend. Chances are, you've abandoned the ship and begun swimming toward the margarita machine and a gathering with grilled cow. If you are stuck at the desk until the whistle blows at 5 PM, you are either shopping online, reading blogs online, or looking at Facebook online. I would say productivity is somewhere in the negative integers. Now is not the time to work. It's time for a beer cooler, a pool, a mattress sale, and country music concerts.

And I hope that you enjoy every last minute of your 3-day weekend.

It's difficult to blog-hop today without landing on someone who wants to remind you that this weekend is for honoring our country's history and the men and women who fight to defend it. And I must confess, I'm riding shotgun on that bandwagon.

When Neal is home and we're grilling steaks and mixing margaritas for a gathering of friends on the patio, it's easy to forget about the men and women who sleep with one eye open. I forget that sometimes Neal has to sleep with one eye open. We are together, we are surrounded by our biggest fans, and we are feasting like kings. And then, a year later, I am alone in my living room and reflecting on what this holiday should mean.

If it is that easy for me to forget during non-deployment years, I must then accept and forgive when civilians celebrate the holiday as an extra day off from work and an excuse for a pool party.

When we are personally unaffected, it falls completely off our radar. It's not the American way...it's the human condition. We get impatient and we roll our eyes...we cut people off in traffic and we fight over the last cake at Sam's.

But if we can step back and think about what our lives would be like under Gaddafi or Chavez or Kim Jong-II...we realize that we owe an overwhelming debt of gratitude to the service men and women who volunteer, fight, and die for our freedom to choose our elected officials. This is not about Obama or Congress, even. This is about the men and women who volunteer to sacrifice their lives so that we, as Americans, may continue to hold elections and have a voice in how this country is run.

I am writing this today so that maybe next 4th of July, amidst the frozen drinks and couch time with Neal, I will remember the families who are mourning the loss or missing the face of a loved one at war. Because our support and gratitude shouldn't stop just because they are home.

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