Thank You, Veterans.

Happy Veterans Day. I’m taking the day to honor my beloved father, Allyn Duane Thompson. He served his country as a young man in the Navy and retired later through the Army, fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars and was awarded two Purple Hearts. He raised his children to deeply love their country and respect those that sacrificed themselves for our freedoms. I love you, Dad. Thank you for what you gave. I wish I were in Texas today to give you the biggest hug possible, I don’t think I’d let go.

In lieu of that, rain or shine, our family will thank local heroes at the Veteran’s Day Parade, a beautiful tradition of our special town of Petaluma, California.

Thank you to all soldiers that served and those currently serving this great country and to their families for sharing them.

One more shout out to a loyal blog follower that I seem to always have on my mind when I think of our military when blogging- MizSmoochieLips, a young woman & mother that represents to me all military wives and military husbands at home while their S.O. is serving. I wanted you to know that I appreciate the daily sacrifices you make from the home-front on our country’s behalf.

Here are photos from Veterans Day 2005. Look at the Color Guard bearing the flags, doesn’t that give you goosebumps? And the caravan of vintage Jeeps filled with veterans from several different wars is always breathtaking. Jeff is driving the old fire engine, Jamie riding side-step tossing candy to the crowd and Sarah is holding the sign (that I completely misspelled and didn’t realize until AFTER the parade!) I have to giggle when I enlarge this photo, Bennett is on the other side of the truck popping his head up just inside the windshield under the mayor’s arm. Yay! I got them all in one shot!