When Veteran's Day is a Family Affair

Teresa Vincent is a Veteran, proud of her work and the work of her friends and family. Read more about Teresa on her blog, The Joyful Journeyist

Recently I was in Sunny San Diego helping to take care of my granddaughter while her Mommy is deployed. She is just 15 months old and she’s wearing this menopausal Grandma OUT! My daughter-in-law is in the Navy, and on her first short sea duty mission.

As a retired member of the Air Force, I know all too well the difficult times the military family members face when it comes to separations. I have many friends still serving on active duty, and many that are now retired. My Dad was a career Navy man and my father-in-law is retired Air Force. My husband is also retired from the Air Force.

My all time #1 inspiration, my adopted Grandmother Trinidad, is a retired Air Force Veteran STILL serving as a volunteer at the Military Medical Center on Lackland Air Force Base. She takes a bus to work 4 days a week and receives no paycheck. When asked in an interview why she does this, her reply was “I don’t like soap operas”. She is 93 years young.

Trinidad Garcia

Veterans come in all different sizes and ages. They not only consist of the actual military member, but also their family (spouse and/or children). The families are the ones most affected by the service that is provided to our country. The husbands and wives left home to care for the kids while the active duty member is gone are, in my eyes, just as much a veteran as their deployed spouse. I know some of you may not agree with this line of thought, and that’s okay. This is my personal opinion. I was not only an active duty member, but also a child and wife of a military member. I suffered and sacrificed in these roles just as much as when I wore the uniform. My favorite soul sister is retired from the Air Force as well. Her husband made incredible sacrifices for their family during her career and he deserves as much honor as she does. Together, they have raised 4 incredible, smart and beautiful young ladies. My husband and I are blessed to call them Goddaughters.

And just to prove my whole “family affair” point, here is a throwback photo of the 2 oldest dressed up in Mom’s uniforms (I bet you smile).

Amazing Amanda and Magical Megan

class=”paragraph”>As an added bonus to today,s tribute, I am attaching the link to an old post I wrote back in April highlighting my favorite benefit. We seem to be losing more and more of these benefits with each passing year, so I am trying to take advantage of them while I still can. You can read all about it and meet some more Veterans at The Price I paid to fly first class for Free.

If you happen to have today off because of the holiday, don’t forget to thank a service member. There are so many that came back from wars of long ago that never received an appropriate welcome home. We can’t take back the past but we can do better in the future. Our future starts today. Happy Veterans Day!