Something incredible happened to me at work today... This is a little lengthy... To start, every thursday we have a group of people come into the store who are members of the local pow-mia chapter and have coffee, tea and so on. Two of these people are Vietnam veterans. One ive known for a fair amount of time and the other just through the store. I have become acustom over the past 5 or 6 months with these two men, along with a few others, and their families coming into the store every thursday for their ritual meet. But tonight was different from every other thursday. Tonight i received something i will never forget. As i was waiting on customers, the one gentleman who this story is about lingered at the register while the others and other customers left the counter. He reached over the counter and handed me three sealed white envelopes. Two had fellow co workers names and the third my own. Immediately i felt my face flush and my eyes swelled a little. Myself Stifeling back tears, he reached over and presented his hand. Honorably i shook it knowing his status, as more tears started to form in my eyes. He wished me a merry christmas and he and his wife proceeded to sit down. To receive something with no return except a thank you from someone who put his life on the line to protect my freedom, was enough to make me cry. But i held back the tears. My co worker asked me what is it? I said i dont know, but im going to wait until i get home to see. Because if not, i know it will make me cry. So i finished my shift and went home. I got settled in and my curiosity took over. I gently opened the envelope, and appeared was a christmas card. Immediately, the tears just started flowing. I opened the card blurry eyed, and inside were two folded pieces of paper. And the one thing i was expecting to see but did not want to was money. $25.00. I could not help mysef, but to cry. As i lay the least important thing aside, i unfolded one the papers. It was a mission statement of what their purpose is. Still crying, i laid this aside. The second paper was the hook. It was a poem written by a marine stationed in okinawa, Japan. I read it and it warmed my heart. I couldnt help but smile. The moral of this story is we take life, those in and around it for granted. So please, i am begging you whenever you see a vet or active duty soldier say thank you and offer a hand. The feeling i got, and still have, is like no other. Now i know what it must feel like to be thanked. I will post the poem in another post.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 07:01:38 +0000
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