It’s Memorial Day. Remember.

I was blessed to be raised by parents who instilled into me a love of country and an appreciation that freedom is not free.

That the freedoms we enjoy and the rights that  have been bestowed by the Creator and recognized by our founders have been protected by blood and sweat over centuries.

And while we may or may not agree with current or past administration and policies, we should not take it lightly we have the right to do so, and we should not so quickly dismiss any attempts to infringe those rights. At the least we owe it to the women and men who gave “the last full measure of their devotion”.

I like to think that I have instilled in my children the same love and respect for country that was nurtured in me. In fact I know that to be true. But this year it hits a little closer to home.

My son Tim resigned his job as a Vermont State Trooper last month and is pursuing something he has wanted to do for a while now, Army Special Forces. He is currently at my old stomping grounds of Fort Benning, GA. Kind of ironic that he is back where he spent the first few years of his life when I was stationed there.

When he first told me he was enlisting I responded kind of poorly. Something like “What are you doing that for?” He was leaving a stable job, his home, and his (very supportive wife) and pursuing a path that there is no 100% guarantee he would even complete. I know he wasn’t very happy with me, but we’ll get past it. I have always been proud of him for his accomplishments, but this was a hard one. I think maybe as a veteran I realize the potential consequences of his decision, and while it might be ok for me to make it, this is my son.

But then I was reminded in a recent conversation about men like Tim who make such decisions. Decisions to leave the comfort of home, and relative safety and ease. Men and women like this are why I can sit here at this keyboard in my office, drinking a cup of coffee, doing a job I love to do. Men and women like this who leave home and family so I can be here with mine.

Men and women like Steve Veinotte, Justin and Raechel Strevig, Ken Jones, Justin and Meagan Sbat, Spencer Wilbur, Brad Lepelley, Dan Parker, Taylor Anne Frazoa, Michael Gilbert and many more that I could name that have and continue to honorably serve their country, and understood the decisions and consequences. Men and women who sweat in the desert in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan so I can sleep on my Select Comfort.

So today as you celebrate, I ask you to remember who and what you are celebrating. Today there are wives without husbands and children without a mom or dad to whom this day brings back floods of memories you and I cannot understand.

Remember them.

Never, ever forget.

I love you Tim.