My husband and my children’s father fell going into church on Christmas Day and broke his leg. At the age of eighty-three, that is sometimes a long recovery requiring surgery and physical therapy. He also has dementia, and while his case is not too severe as of now, it still added to complicate things for him. We are very fortunate to have a veteran’s long term care facility very near our home and he is now residing there. They are taking wonderful care of him and we go visit him, usually, on a daily basis. He still loves to sing, so we go there weekly and one of the daughters plays the piano and leads them in a sing-along. When we are there, we enjoy hearing the veterans reminisce about their days in service for our country. It is an honor to know and fellowship with such fine gentlemen who have served our country so faithfully and who still have such pride and love for our United States of America.
We greatly appreciate the freedoms that we enjoy in this country and we respect the wonderful men and women for helping to make this such a great country in which to live. While it certainly has changed over the years and there are some things that we may not be happy about, we still live in the greatest place in the world. We pray that during this month of July as we celebrate our nation’s birthday, that you will find a veteran or a service member and do something special to let them know how much you appreciate their sacrifice and service so that we can enjoy this holiday and each day living here in America.
In closing, the veterans that sing along each week with us love to sing the following song, so we want to leave you with the lyrics from the Lee Greenwood song, “God Bless the USA!”
If tomorrow all the things were gone
I worked for all my life
And I had to start again
With just my children and my wife
I would thank my lucky stars
To be living here today
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom
And they can’t take that away
And I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I’d gladly stand up next to you
And defend Her still today
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.
From the lakes of Minnesota
To the hills of Tennessee
Across the plains of Texas
From sea to shining sea
From Detroit down to Houston
And New York to L.A.
There’s pride in every American heart
And it’s time we stand and say
That I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me
And I’d gladly stand up next to you
And defend Her still today
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt
I love this land
God Bless the U.S.A.
Happy Birthday, America! Thank you, veterans and those presently serving in the armed forces.
