My Most Handsome Hero

Although Veteran's Day is almost over, I am compelled tonight to send my thoughts and prayers to all the veterans who have and are serving this great country. Whenever I go to races big or small, and they play the National Anthem and say the Pledge of Allegiance, I almost always tear up. Our community here in Hampton Roads is very military....and well, my biggest military hero is my Dad.......

So tonight, I am dedicating a late evening post to my most hansome military hero. Although my parents are divorced and my Dad has lived far away from me for most of my life, he has always been there for me and has always given to me whenever I was in need. I have spent all of my life with my mother, but still in many ways I am like my Dad.

He served in the Navy for several years and fought in the Vietnam war when I was just a small child. My mother missed my father terribly while he was deployed on his ship....there are still several love letters and poems that fill photo albums and scrapbooks. My mother recalls still with sadness in her heart, her fear of my father being at war, her loneliness of having a small child all alone.....the longing for the love of her life.

It's a story I am reminded of on a daily basis as I see the parents of the children I work with separate from their families on deployment. It is the ultimate sacrifice.

Thank you Dad for you gallant and brave service to our country. You are and always will be my most handsome hero.....love from your Irish Girl.....