To the Heroes in My Life, and All Others in Existance.

This time of year has become somewhat important to me throughout my life. It all started when I was a little kid. It was an extra day off of school just as the sun was coming out, the weather was warming up, and the pools were opening. I remember begging my mom to let us jump into the pool in the barely seventy degree weather. Then begging her to let me and a cousin ride our bikes to the 7-ll down the main road from where we live to buy the most amazing summer treat, a slurpee. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

These few days grew more important to me as I learned the meaning of Memorial day and why we got those magnificent days off. We are a unique country in our history and our present. There are many lives and loved ones which have been sacrificed throughout the years on our behalf. We have freedoms like nowhere else in this existence of ours. It was given to us by those sacrifices, those martyrs, those who are true heroes.

When I was seven my little sister, Mary Beth, was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma. It is a childhood cancer somewhat like Leukemia. She lived until she was seven years old, four years later. She is a miracle in my life. Some wonder how that could be, considering the fact that she has passed from this life into the next. The truth is that she was able to defy many odds. She wasn't supposed to live as long as she did, and her attitude through it all was remarkable. She continually exemplified what it means to be happy in our troubles and despairs. As a five year old little girl she understood what it meant to have faith in God. There was a spirit of contenment with her situation which she carried to all those around her. She became a hero to me and to many others through this process. It's only fitting that when she finally returned home to her Father in Heaven she did it on a weekend which is already celebrated for so many heroes in this world. I only wish I could be closer to her physical grave at this time in order to pay the respects I know she deserves.

My thoughts also turn to my mother and father. They are such amazing people. I am so lucky and honored to have them in my life and be able to call them my parents. I don't believe they truly understand or grasp what they have given to me, nor how much of an effect they had on helping Mary Beth be the person she was here on this earth, and I am sure that she is in Heaven. They are my unsung heroes, which I whope one day will understand the reverence I have for them.

I am now sitting on my front porch, conveniently overlooking a cemetary. All day long I have been intrigued by the presence of so many different people paying tribute to those who they love and care for. American flags speckle the ground a gift to those who have given it their all. Flowers are in bloom on almost every grave. As I watch and admire their beauty in full bloom, children run and play, as the elderly stop and ponder a moment upon certain graves. I'm sure they are pondering not only the lives of those who ahve been lost, but their own, and the future lives of the children which they bring with them.

What a legacy we have. What an enormous responsibility to keep it going. I love this country, I love those who built it for me. To the heroes in my life, and the heroes in all others' lives out there. Thank you, and God bless.