Dad.  The flag suits him, always.  (Photo and flag courtesy of my sister, Pam.  She planned ahead, before the snowstorm hit Denver on 11/10/15.)

For the past few years I’ve written something about Veteran’s Day, a holiday admittedly, I never thought about properly until my dad passed. It’s funny how you don’t know what absorbed into your being all your life until someone important in your life is gone. I didn’t know how emotional American patriotism could make me every time I saw the “star spangled banner” or heard it played.

All I knew was my dad’s commitment to the Navy. I saw him in uniform a few times a year when I was younger, the times he went to his monthly weekend drills for the Naval reserves. He wore khaki uniforms most of the time and dress whites with ugly white shoes on special occasions. He polished those white shoes before hand with liquid white polish over newspapers spread on the kitchen table.  He collected 50+ navy blue caps with gold letters spelling out the name of an aircraft carrier. My younger brother and sister and I got “Go Navy” t-shirts with the Navy mascot, a goat.  Maybe that’s what permeated into our being and made us pro America. We are pro Navy for sure. And the Army vs. Navy football game coming up on December 12th, well, GO NAVY! See how that works?

We always celebrated the 4^th of July with backyard fireworks: fountains, sparklers, smoke bombs and snakes. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs with my Idaho cousins, The Kleffners. To this day, America’s birthday is just not the same for me without fireworks.  My sister Pam remembers to put a flag at my dad’s headstone every Veterans Day.  See how that works?

Somehow, those childhood memories make me weepy before every swim meet or football game for my boys when the Star Spangled Banner is sung or played.  I’m misty at baseball games and at war memorials.  Veterans Day sticks in my mind as much as I my dad’s birthday or mine.  I feel it coming a month in advance.

Here’s to ALL the Veterans for giving us the freedom to cheer for the Navy football team and for America the Beautiful!