Home of the Free, Because of the Brave...

We headed out to the Memorial Day Service on Fort Rich today to honor those that paid the ultimate price for our freedom and those still sacrificing for us today. We have so many men and women from the Anchorage bases over in Iraq right now, they had to substitute rifles for the typical cannons in the 21 gun salute and we didn't have a fly over in the missing man formation at all, which was a disappointment. But, the weather was beautiful and the speakers were good. My not so favorite congressman, Don Young, gave an unexpectedly profound speech. He told us all to take a deep breath and as we exhaled, he reminded us that we can breathe freely because of those who gave their lives and to remember that not only on Memorial Day, but every day. This day is always tough on me. I miss my grandfather and the ceremony is so similar to what they did for his funeral, it's like we re-live it every year. We place the flowers on his grave and then, have to walk across the whole cemetery where my other grandfather lies, who we never even got to meet, because he lost his life in Vietnam. It's hard to think about all the families still losing loved ones today and knowing how many people those losses will affect...