I was at my in-laws yesterday and they had visitors, two men the same generation as my mother and father-in-law. They dropped by to see how they were doing and to give some assistance. I knew one of the gentlemen--he's my friend's father. I've known him for decades. The other man, I didn't know.
We left before they did and as I left, I noticed the vehicle the man I didn't know drove. After seeing the decals, I had to snap a couple of pictures.
He was a veteran, and by the looks of it, a navy man.
I don't know many navy service men or women. I suppose it goes with the territory. We have an air force base about ten miles to the north of us. And there's an army base about forty-five miles to the south of us.
But no navy bases here, even though we have the nation's biggest salt-water lake just west of us.
I have a newspaper clipping of my father and four of his siblings who served together in WWII. My dad was army air corp, but a few of his brothers were in the navy. I thought it odd boys from Idaho would want to go into the navy. I don't know--maybe they didn't have a choice. Maybe being in another land-locked state, they wanted to see a lot of water.
The man visiting my in-laws was a navy man. His van had stickers with familiar sayings, probably the most famous being:
Home of the Free Because of the Brave
I can't argue with that. The decals made me stop and think for just a moment. I'm sure the man has stories, some I'd love to hear and some I most likely never want to hear. Yes, I'm glad there are men and women who serve and serve willingly to protect me and my family. It's a shame that they're needed, but I'm glad they're there.
I'm also glad that kindly gentlemen visited a couple in need, too.
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