Remember the fallen, celebrate their lives!

 Yesterday we celebrated Memorial Day. Maybe it is because I lived overseas for so many years, I don't know, but I always seem to get a "catch" in my throat each time I see our beautiful flag. As the song says, "I'm proud to be an American!"

 We went to a nearby park and cemetery to commemorate this special day. So many graves were decorated by flags and plants. It was a good time of reflection...freedom is not free!

 This is the first year that we were able to attend the special Memorial Day service held here in our city. Not only did we honor the service men and women who have passed on, but we also had a special time in the service to honor those who are still living. A soloist sang each of the songs from the 5 branches of service, and the guests who had served in that branch of the military stood and sang their song together with her, as we applauded them. It was especially moving to see an elderly man and his uniformed grandson stand together as the anthem for the Air Force was sung. Thanks to all of our service men and women who pledge to guard our freedoms, regardless of the cost to their personal lives.

"O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land

Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just;

And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust!'

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"