Dear Roger,

Happy Veteran’s Day.  On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, I honour you and your service to this country.

While it is not perfect, it is the model that other countries follow and strive for in their pursuit of “freedom”.  It is the country that so many immigrants still want to eventually end up in.  It is the country where the son of a single mother can become president.  It is the country where we pride ourselves on having the freedom for each of us to reach our goals and our dreams.

As we know all too well, freedom isn’t free.  It comes at a very high price – a price paid in blood and lives cut short or changed forever by events that history will look back on and label extraordinary.  Freedom is measured in body bags returned home from foreign soil and white crosses standing guard silently in field of green grass while “Taps” plays mournfully in the distant.  It is the twenty-one gun salute acknowledging the ultimate sacrifice that freedom demands, and often claims.

As I watch you living your life day-to-day, wracked with pain from the injuries that you suffered while serving in the Army, I am grateful for your sacrifice and your service.  Even after I have spent hours arguing with various VA bureaucrats and paper pushers, I am still grateful that you have the medical care your country promised.  And when I can voice a dissenting opinion publicly, without fear of reprisal, I am once again reminded that your service guards my right to speak my mind.

Thank you My Beloved for all that you and thousands of others have done to guarantee the freedoms that we as Americans take for granted.  Freedoms gained at a high price and all too often paid for in blood.

Happy Veteran’s Day, my Love.