Dear Stranger,
We may never meet, but thank you. Not just for your service, but for your sacrifice. Thank you for your dedication, selflessness, honor, and courage. Thank you for giving up your life to train in harsh conditions and then to live in harsher conditions still. Thank you for putting your family on hold to protect mine. Thank you for stepping into danger so I can step out of my house in freedom. Thank you for leaving all you love behind so I can hold those I love close without fear. Thank you for living in uncertainty about deployments so I can safely live in uncertainty about my next career move.
Your dedication to our country is inspiring. Though some dismiss your choice as inconsequential, please hold your head high. You’ve done what most refuse to do- stand proud and willing, at the front and at the ready, to defend and protect America and all who live within her borders. Precious Stranger, you who have given up so much so America can live in abundance, you are my hero. I am grateful to you, not just today, but everyday there is breath in my lungs.
“Thank you,” is such a small phrase in comparison to all you have done, but I mean it sincerely. Thank you for volunteering. Thank you for serving.
God bless,
Ruth
From The Kitchen And On The Road 