last saturday we all gathered to honor our fallen.we walked a mile around a lake in honor of true heroes.while the media was focused on kim kardashian’s spectacle (ahem…wedding) we were focused on this.
we hugged, talked in hushed tones,nodded at one another, pinned on bibs bearing the faces and names of men that are now gone.
those faces on that bib brought tears to my eyes and they still do as i’m looking at this photo.
there were widows there. children who didn’t have their daddies any more. it gave me a heartache and a pit in my stomach.mothers and fathers without their sons.
but it also makes me more proud than i can put into words.
we are a family.
we walk side by side
love each other. pick up each other’s kids when they are crying. hold the hands of each other’s children.
we survive together.we text each other while we are hiding in the bathtub with our children during a tornado warning. we make each other laugh.
we cry together. talk one another through the scariest,most uncertain moments imaginable.
i have such PRIDE in these families. i feel such intense,possessive, throat-tightening respect for these men.
to walk for them that day was a privilege.to wear their faces on my shirt was a privilege.
i carry them in my heart daily.
my heart is full of so many things…so full for so many reasons. and so heavy.
rltw.
(for all of you that aren’t familiar w/ random army acronyms…hahaha…that means “rangers lead the way”)