My blog has been pretty regularly silent.  I know this.  But I am going to ask you for a little more silence.

Each Veteran’s Day, we thank those who have given years of their life, or their full measure, in service and defense of our country and our ideals.  All those people who has served who are reading this – from a woman who still tears up EVERY SINGLE TIME the American Anthem is played, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

But I would like everyone to do a little something more than thanking the military men and women you personally know on this day.

Take a moment and go view our most recent Fallen.

Pick a soldier.  Any soldier.  View their page.

Look at their hometown, their age, the circumstances of their sacrifice.  Close your eyes and picture these young men and women, lost in the prime of their lives in horrific ways, far from their homes, and think upon the things that they and their families will never have.

The birthdays lost.

The children lost.

The father who will never see the first steps, the fingerpaintings, the high school graduation of his daughter.

The mother who will never come back over the sea to tuck her son in at night.

The college diplomas never earned.

The empty side of the bed.

The empty plate at the table.

The aching hole in the heart.

The only compensation, the inadequate pittance that we can offer for that horrible loss, is our recognition and our will to remember.

Take a little time to look at even one of those soldiers today.  And keep their memory alive.