It’s Vetrans Day, and I wanted to really take some time to think about what that means. I have a great respect for our Military and the sacrifices they make for our country. My dad was a Marine and I’ve had other family members who served our country. But my dad was out of the Marines before I was born and it’s hard to really understand the sacrifice that people make for us until you know someone close to you who makes those sacrifices, until you live through it. I’ve gotten a glimpse of it through Jeremy.

My best friend in the whole wide world is Shea. She’s a “we talk every day, we know what each other is thinking, with one look we can tell if the other is upset about something when no one else has a clue” kind of best friend. She is my sister, her daughters are my nieces, and her husband is my brother. That is how I feel about them, they are my family. Well Shea is an Army wife, and her husband has already been deployed twice and during those long hard deployments I got a glimpse into what is sacrificed by our military, what they…and their families have to give up to do a tough, often  thankless job.

Jeremy missed birthday parties and Christmas’s. His daughter cried herself to sleep holding a photo of her daddy and Shea spent countless days hiding in the bathroom crying hoping her girls wouldn’t catch her. She had to be strong, they had to learn to be strong. And Jeremy, not only was he missing them, his girls, but he had to see things that I’m sure none of us can imagine, he had to be dirty and hot and feel very alone, living for those few minutes every few days that he could talk to his girls. I can never truly express how grateful I am for him, and for all the soliders like him who do a hard job that asks too much and pays too little, and they do it with pride for us.

So thank you Jeremy, and thank you to all the Jeremy’s out there, whatever your name may be.

A photo I took of his sweet daughters Ashlyn and Madalee.

And a photo I took of Jeremy and all his girls :)