THANK YOU SOLDIERS

I am a holiday girl. Meaning that I absolutely love any reason to get together with friends and family, and holidays are the perfect excuse. The Fourth of July, in particular, puts together several of my favorite things, friends, time out in the sun on the beach (and the boat today :)!), country music, red, white, and blue and most of all... firecracker popsicles. Ah... perfection. 

Ironically, when I turned on my tv this morning, a show called, "Wedding Day," caught my eye. I flipped to the channel and the reason for showing this particular episode was inherently evident. The premise of the show is two people who plan a wedding for a couple with their family and friends within a week. The couple this week just returned from Iraq, and without a doubt, are an absolutely gorgeous couple with hearts of gold. Instead of a wedding favor, they donated a large amount of money to a fund that supports soldiers who are wounded in duty. This couple is absolutely amazing, and I wish them all the best.

Even though none of my family members have military ties, growing up in the largest military area in the US has given me a particular soft spot for the soldiers and their families. Many of my close friends throughout elementary school, middle school and high school were in military families, and one of my good friends from high school is actually heading off to boot camp today (love you Christine, you are awesome!). As a bonus, I get to spend the day with a man I consider an additional father figure to the marvelous dad I have, and a man who donated much of his life to this country, my Big Papa.

While I will be enjoying the sun beams dancing on my skin and the delicious mixture of a red, white and blue popsicle, my thoughts and prayers will be with those soldiers and their families. THANK YOU for my freedom, it wouldn't be possible without your selfless acts.