Birthdays!

This month, we celebrated my Dad's 88th year of life. Today is the date, 49 years ago, President Barack Obama was born. So many years inbetween those two men! Such history has ocurred in the decades! Who would have ever expected, in the 1920's, that an African American, or any person besides a Caucasion white male would be eligible to run for the highest office in this country, and WIN! With Senator Hillary Clinton's addition to the ballot, we made additional history with the first woman to throw her hat into the mix!

We call my father's peers "The Greatest Generation". Surely, they earned that title. They scraped and saved, lived through a very, very severe Depression(not like the Rescession we are in now) where they had nothing to eat. They lived from meal to meal. They stood on long lines for jobs. Then, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, they ran to sign up to defend their country.
There is never a day when my father doesn't fly his flag. At his house on the beach, when he is home, it is up, flying proudly. He's instilled that in me. I fly my flag on national holidays, and sometimes on the weekends, when I am home. I sing the national anthem at baseball games, hand over my heart. Some things are imprinted in my brain forever!

I'm proud to be American, and love that my country is a symbol of freedom. I pray for those who are fighting to defend freedom around the globe and those who have sacrificed their lives for freedom of others. I wish we didn't have to be the first - always - to sign up for the job! I want each man and woman to return to us intact and appreciated.

Happy Birthday, dear dad and President Obama. May God bless you both.