Unity Among Families of Military Heros

I think I have been avoiding writing and posting these pictures. I don’t think the pictures are terrible. I guess it is because it is the first time I saw my dad’s headstone and was able to lay a wreath at his grave. In all honesty, it is the first Christmas function I have been involved in with my dad since I was a little girl. My mom always told me my dad loved me to the best of his ability. I did get to reconnect with him before he passed and did get a half way apology from him about running out on me. He also was able to meet his only grandchild before he passed. You can see those pictures here. He was very proud of her.

The experience was joyful, sad and had a sense of unity. My father was buried in the new section since he passed away a few months ago. My Aunt passed two months after him and she is 7 rows behind him. So, when laying the wreaths down there was a flood of emotions from everyone around me. People were laughing as they reminisced about their loved ones. Others were crying because the pain was just too new. I saw military placing the wreaths and then saluting the graves and children laying down wreaths at their father and mother’s graves. In the misted on all of the emotions there was a sense of peace between us. You could look someone else in the eyes and just know we were all feeling the same thing and we were not alone. Overall there was pride…pride in those who served our country and pride that so many people showed up to help remember our loved ones. 

I am not really sure how to close this blog so I will just show you some of the pictures from that day and of my father. You can see the rest here.