Thank You.

I really could not decide what to blog about this week. What a week it's been! First and foremost, congratulations to every single American Troop, past or present, for your service to our country. This would of course include our Commander in Chief. The greatest part of America is that men and women volunteer to leave their friends and family to protect ours. It is the most beautiful of sacrifices. Thanking our troops is something I do on a regular basis. In fact it was less than a week ago I posted a yellow ribbon on my page "just because".

My family lost my cousin, Brian Matthew Kennedy, in Kuwait March 2003. On the very first day of the Iraq War he died in a helicopter crash. I will never forget how sad we were that day, or the day of his funeral, or still to this day. What I really never forget is his name, and the other Marines who died in the crash that day. Their names were on the news ticker. Not once or twice but for months and months. His picture was on the news; his name was on the lips of the newscasters. He was remembered.

I can't remember the last NAME of a fallen soldier I've seen lately. (Admittedly I avoid the local news due to its depressing nature and I can't say I care about the topics they cover.) My favorite "news" show is Sunday Morning on CBS. My point being we don't roll ticker tape of the names of the fallen anymore. Their pictures are not posted on the news, local or national. We don't say thank you by giving their face air time. We don't say thank you by putting their face on the front of our newspapers. We don't really say thank you at all.

Sunday night, while feeling VERY frustrated at some comments I was reading about the death of OBL and whether President Obama was deserving of any credit, it occurred to me. I am feeling SO irritated. I even dropped a few Facebook friends over it! I was really beside myself. I was going to write about how I justify being friends with people whose beliefs are completely opposite of mine. (I will still blog about this topic some day.) But I knew if I wrote about this topic, I knew if I went THERE, it would not end well. I did not want to offend anyone or lose anymore friends over it. But I couldn't just let it go...

After thinking about it all day today, it came to me, the clarity I had been looking for! It came to me through the divine wisdom of my 11 yr old Stepson (aka 11). I am a HUGE fan of saying (and hearing) thank you. We talk about it a lot at our house. So I was making Spaghetti and my man was filling cups with ice. 11 was sitting at the table talking to us. I asked my man a question which he didn't hear, but he muttered "what?". 11 quickly stated "I'll tell you when you're done" and turned to me and said "he won't hear me over the ice", to which I reply "thank you that is really sweet". After the ice noise had ceased, 11 said "Dad can you... such and such... thank you". My man then thanked one of us. (Clearly the moral of this story is WAY more available in my memory bank than the actual events.) 11 looked at me and said "we just had a thank you chain. You said thank you to me and I said thank you to Dad and he said thank you back."

How cool is that? A thank you chain! And presto! it was clear. A thank you blog it was!

So once again, thank you to our troops. Thank you to the families and friends of everyone serving. Thank you to 11 for saying "thank you" and being so endearing. And since "I'm sorry" is typically in short supply, I would also like to say I am sincerely sorry. I'm sorry to those I offended last night regarding OBL's demise. I believe I kept my comments pretty classy, but my intention was to prove I was right, and I am sure that seeped through. I expect more self control from myself and I am sorry I did not execute it last night. Tonight I will no longer look back. Tonight I thank you for reading my blog and would greatly appreciate it if you kept the thank you chain going ~ today and always.

With Love,

Aunt T-

"Ignorance is learned. Teach acceptance."