My Veteran

I always struggle a little on Veterans' Day, about whether or not I should write something new, or continue to recycle the first post I wrote on my blog for Veteran's day. The thing is, I just really really like this post and I kind of feel like nothing I try and write will ever top it. So I keep posting it again. And again. And I think this year, yet again. There's probably some unwritten blog rule that says you can't recycle posts, but whatever, I don't even care. Cause I love this post so much. And I love my husband so much. 

And I love our military, and our country, and our service men and women that stand on the front lines everyday to protect our homeland. They're way braver than I could ever be. And also way more bad ass.

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Today we celebrate Veteran's Day.

My husband is a veteran: Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom from 2007-08.

A couple weekends ago I went to the Eric Church concert. I know you're probably thinking "and these two go together, how??" but stay with me...

At the Eric Church concert he sang his song "These Boots," and if you haven't heard it...google it. But he sings about his pair of boots and all the places they've been, and what they've seen over the years, and it got me to thinking about my husband's boots. His Army boots. And all the places they've been and things they've seen.

Those boots were laced up every morning for over a year, to run missions all day that lasted well into the night, often times through the night. They carried an extra 100+ pounds of gear, and withstood the heat of the Iraqi summers.

Those boots have been dusted with the sands of Tikrit and the dirt of Mosul. They've walked along the gravel near the Tigress River. And they sat crammed next to bunch of other boots on a C-130 for hours to get there.

Those boots stood next to both Iraqi forces, and young locals; all in the name of a better Iraq.

Those boots spent Thanksgiving and Christmas, and rang in the new year overseas.

Those boots were there, on the floor of Saddam Hussein's mother's palace, when Nathan was planning our engagement.

  

Those boots have seen a lot, heard a lot; most of which, I'll never know. But those boots came home on the feet of my husband...alive and in one piece.

These days, those boots spend their time in the mountains of Arizona, chasing deer and elk, and anything else that has four legs. But they come back home at the end of each day. Just as they should.

Thank you to all those who have served, and are currently serving our Country over seas.

"Honor the fallen, thank the living"

My favorite soldier