Happy 4th of July

Happy Birthday America!
I am:

• thankful for our freedoms.
• thankful for those who have served in the military to keep us safe.
• thankful for the people who have sacrificed their lives, their able bodies, their families for our nation, including my daddy & my cousin's husband, Phillip, and their whole family- Regina and kids.
• proud of my daddy who served in Vietnam.
• proud of my pop who served in the Air Force for 20 years.

For me, this is a day of remembering. I will always love the fireworks, but ingrained in my memory is a little girl who wanted to do fireworks and whose daddy finally let her one year. I remember that Momma said he paced inside while I played outside and watched and "oohed" & "aahhed" at all the pretty colors. He let me do something that caused him painful memories. And the next year he was gone.

Each year at 4th of July, I always whisper a quiet "Thank you Daddy" while I watch the fireworks.

So, "Thank you Daddy. For everything."