Thanks to our Veterans & a card to share

Both of my grandfathers served in WWII - Mother's Dad was Army Air Corps and stayed Stateside; Dad's Dad saw the worst of it. He had a 5 story building fall on him in a raid; he told me once of his buddy literally being blown in half but the guy was more worried about Grampa - Grampa held him while he died; he had a machine gun shell take out one entire lung and 1/3 of the other one; according to the copies of his records that Gramma gave to me, he was toe-tagged more than once; his Battalion had a book written about them; and I was a teenager before I realized WHY he would go miles out of his way to keep from going under a bridge, especially railroad bridges; he had horrible nightmares & to keep from hurting my Gramma in his sleep, he slept in another room for years.

We owe these brave men and women everything. We also owe the ones they left behind a debt of gratitude as well - they worked in the factories, made airplanes, ran the farms, raised children alone - they were warriors, too, though you'll never hear them tell it that way...they just did what they had to do. No one thinks like that any more and this Nation would be a LOT better off if we did. For those that went to Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan....from the bottom of my heart...THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU! You keep me and my children safe every day and even though I can't see you, I know you're there - you're angels on Earth - and everyone in THIS HOUSE appreciates everything you do.

I spent all day yesterday with our military on my mind. Knowing that today was to honor those that made such huge sacrifices, watching the memorial service at Ft. Hood...these people SIGN UP to do this. They're not told they have to, they WANT TO. It takes a rare and special person to get up every day and do a job for little-to-no money and very little thanks. With that sitting on me all day, I was motivated to make this card:

The base is a pre-made A2; background paper is from a packet I picked up at Big Lots in the summer of 2008 (LOVED the old map); I inked the edges with Jumbo Java by Tsukeniko.

Image is from an old hostess set, called "Something for you"; sentiment is from "Ordinary Greetings"; used one of my new Labels Two die from Spellbinders; colored the image with my COPIC markers; chalked the background; mounted it with foam tape to lift it off the card a bit.

COPIC markers used: W1, W3, W5, W7, YR65, YG06, YG11, R39, R22, R29, B00, B21, & YG03

If you don't have a Veteran near you to thank, stop by your local VFW hall or try to make a trip to the closest VA Hospital - visit with one of them, even if for only an hour or so...it will change your life, I promise. If nothing else, wear a flag pin, say a prayer for those in harm's way now and be sure to say the Pledge of Allegiance!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!