THANK YOU–FOR YOUR SERVICE!
Posted May 25th, 2009 by Jill Conner BrowneWhenever I’m passing through an airport, which is, as you know, way more often than suits my normal slack-ass tendencies, I always go out of my way to speak to the many men and women in Uniform–and just say, “Thank you for your service.” I said those words to one young man, who looked like he couldn’t have been older than 18, God love him, and he said, “Oh, it’s nothing.”
”NOTHING?!” I said, “NOTHING?! Not by a long shot, hunny, it may be nothing TO ME–I’M mostly home, sitting on my porch, not a thought nor an overabundance of cares on my mind–but for YOU–IT’S EVERYTHING–and don’t think for ONE SECOND that I don’t APPRECIATE IT. When I say ‘thank you,’ I MEAN IT–THANK YOU. YOU are making it POSSIBLE for people like ME to SIT on our porches and BE mindless and carefree. THANK YOU, GOD BLESS YOU and I will KEEP you in my prayers.”
He smiled real big. Wherever he is today, I hope he’s safe and I hope he knows I’m still thankful and still praying for him–and all Those Like Him.
4 Responses to “THANK YOU–FOR YOUR SERVICE!”
May 25th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
All I can say is Amen sista!! And God Bless ALL our men and women you have and currently do serve our country so that we may be free! Thank You!!!!
May 25th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Jill, God Bless ya for tellin that wonderful man how much he meant to you!
I am so very proud of the 4 “boys” in my family that are servin right now. As a matter of fact & pride, at least one memeber of my family has served their country in every conflict, battle, or war this country has ever been engaged in since 1776.
And yes we have all been from the south. May not matter to many but it matters to US. Very proud patriotic people. (Which has gotta be the reason I just LOVE the way you write like ya talk!)
I just pray that when my family returns from Afganistan and Iraq, someone, anyone, has the sense, and the heart to stop them in the airport, and show them some of the appreciation you did to this young man. Again, God Bless ya Jill.
May 25th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I do that as well. Plus, sometimes when we are in line together I buy them a coffee or ice cream or something.
Once I gave a young man a heartfelt thank you and he replyed, “Thank you, ma’am. But I just going hunting.” Oh.
June 21st, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Last weekend, i was finagled into volunteering at Seabee Days at Naval Base Ventura County (CA) — Port Hueneme. It’s a little seaside town you can’t pronounce right unless you live here. Anyhoo, it was my job to swim upward through the crowd with a clipboard and notecards and a pen and get folks to write notes of thanks to random service members. I couldn’t believe how willing folks were to do this. And I also couldn’t believe how many letter-senders were Navy personnel — and that all of ‘em (except a lieutenant colonel who had served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and had had a stroke just a week earlier, but came anyway scootin’ his walker) were all about the age of the last pair of cute shoes I just bought. They’re just little bitty cutesy Boy Scout-lookin’ fellas, and the little girls, well, they oughta be home doin’ their homework. But they’re overseas, doin’ their duty. And boy, howdy, are we proud of ‘em.