Coming Home

Today, we arrived at the St. Louis Airport at about 5:30 a.m. to see an ocean of green. America's finest young men were leaving from Fort Leonard Wood for their Christmas exodus. Everywhere you looked there were service men and women in their green uniforms waiting to get home to their families. The air was electric.
I have been "weepy"since we left to go to Levi's graduation. It is too hard to explain....but any one who has seen their kid accomplish something this hard will understand how I feel. I sent a kid away and he returned a man. That is all I can say.
So, today we made our way through the St Louis Airport and the Las Vegas Airport. All along the way, people everywhere stopped Levi and thanked him sincerely for serving our country.

People!! We have such a great country! It was truly awesome. To top it all off, when we got to Salt Lake...we were walking down to the baggage claim area, and as we walked out from security, there were a huge group of people gathered. They had flags and balloons...one man was singing the national anthem (in a humble way, not all flashy) and as Levi walked out first...they all started cheering and clapping...
well....you can only imagine. I pretty well lost it. They were doing this for ALL our soldiers. Each time a military person walked out, the cheering would start again.
I love our country and the good people who live here...seriously. I don't think people who are in Washington, or in Hollywood really understand the depth of appreciation that normal, everyday Americans feel toward our armed service men and women.
We should make this a tradition...every time we see a soldier...we should thank them for their courage to serve...especially at this hard time in our country.

Here are a few pics: (sorry for the quality...you know how it goes...)




I could not be happier today.