Thankful Day 11- Veteren's

Veteran's day is something that is MUCH closer to me than ever before. I always knew it growing up as the small holiday that shared my youngest sister's birthday. When i heard the word veteran i would think of those older gentlemen in costco with their hats letting the rest of us know that they were in Korea or Vietnam... I did not ever imagine that i would be married to a Veteran or the Afghanistan war...

When the towers were first hit, i was in middle school. We sat in our history class for weeks and talked about the repercussions of what was happening. The Olympics were well on their way to Utah within only months, and as anyone that lived in Utah at that time knows... we were a target, and we were all a little worried. I remember Ben (the love of my short middle school life, HA) leaned over and told me that the government was going to have to restart the draft, and he was for SURE going to be drafted... and if he wasn't he would lie about his age and join in the fight.... ya... i think we all assumed it was the start of world war 3, and that our government was just as unable to find out someones age as they were in the 40's... it was a nice thing to say to a girl Ben, so you get points for that... but a very poorly thought out plan. I told him he was an idiot and they wouldn't start the draft, he then said he would wait till his 18th birthday, to which i replied that the "war" we were expecting would be LONG over by then...

Who would have known that 10 years later i would be married to a man who was brave enough to leave me for a short period of time(even though it felt like lightyears) and join in the fight.

Last veteran's day i was preparing for Riley to leave any day... others in his unit had left already. people thanked us both for his service on facebook and over the phone... and i was furious with every message, they just reminded me of the ultimate sacrifice i was PRAYING would not be made, i was trying to keep myself together so that i could enjoy what i hoped would not be our last week together. Don't get me wrong, i still appreciated everyone recognizing the choice we made to join this lifestyle.

This year is different. I have Riley back home with me. He is safe, and we were able to spend this holiday that is so dear to my heart now, together. After spending the evening before in downtown Waikiki for the ball having random strangers tell Riley happy birthday, and thanking him for his service... i assumed that would be the end of our long weekend to celebrate the USMC birthday and Veteran's day. I never imagined how many people would actually go out of their way to make a B-line for us and quickly thank Rye for all he has done. Only being able to spot him by his lack of hair :)

We decided to scale a mountain to celebrate the holiday. Koko head is hard... don't let anyone lie to you and tell you otherwise. it was GORGEOUS!!! and totally worth the work, my thighs STILL hurt, days later. As we approached our car there was a sweaty man with his arms far above his head just standing and as i stated "airing out his pits within smelling distance of the car... great..." He approached us and asked if we were heading into town, their group got locked out of their car and they needed a ride into town to get the spare. Riley i guess was feeling very kind, and said it was no problem. Rye drove an hour out of his way just so that these people would not have to call a cab and a locksmith. It's that kind of attitude that makes him the kind of man i am proud to call my husband.