05/25/2026
Feeling Sentimental and Reminiscing on this Memorial Day.
Freedom isn’t free.
Someone didn’t come home.
Someone’s mother spent sleepless nights worrying about her baby on a battlefield far away. Someone’s father tried to stay strong while wondering if his child would make it home alive.
Someone’s spouse stayed behind, trying to be both mother and father, paying bills, raising children, and carrying the weight of “what if” every single day.
Some came home missing pieces of themselves, not always physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
War changes families forever.
I remember when my brother-in-law Pat was sent to Desert Storm. He left behind his wife, daughter, parents, brother, friends, his final year of college, and his job in Batesville, AR. When he left, we didn’t know when he would return or the unthinkable, if he would return.
In the beginning, we all lived in limbo, not knowing when, or if, war would come. Then one day, CNN interrupted programming as President George H.W. Bush announced the ground war in Kuwait had begun. If I remember correctly, that is how our family found out.
All we knew was that if troops invaded, Pat would most likely be on the front lines. And now they had invaded, and Pat was in the middle of it.
Later, we watched the skies over Baghdad light up on television, not knowing where Pat was or if he was safe. What we didn’t fully understand at the time was that his battle had already begun days earlier, and some of the toughest, scariest parts had already taken place.
Our family was one of the lucky ones. We got our joyous reunion, Pat made it home.
But throughout the history of the United States, many families never got that homecoming. Brave men and women dropped everything, their families, jobs, homes, and dreams, to protect ours.
This Memorial Day, we honor those heroes and the families who carried that sacrifice beside them.
From our family to yours, thank you to those who served, sacrificed, and to those that never made it home. 🇺🇸
Pat, we love you and thank you. USMC See less
