How to Thank a Veteran
Jason Bradshaw • June 12, 2024
Three hundred and sixty five days a year, twenty-four hours a day, rain or shine, hot or cold, from the year 1776 to present day, they’re serving our country. They are our veterans and November 11th is the official day that we honor and thank them each year.
So what can you do to show your appreciation? Here are a few ideas:
- Attend a parade or remembrance event held in your community
- Brush up on your patriotic etiquette
- Teach your children things such as when to stand for the American flag or what to do during the playing of our National Anthem
- Visit the gravesite of a veteran
- Hang a flag in your yard
- Support a veteran-owned business
- Hire a veteran or the spouse of a veteran
- Visit a veterans hospital
- Say thank you to a veteran and his or her family
Did you know you can even hold a “Care Package Party”? Here’s how:
- Invite friends to bring items for those serving away from home.
- You can contact the US Post Office for help with packaging supplies for military care packages. Some items you could send:
- Foot care products
- Cotton socks
- Flavorings for water
- iTunes gift card
- Snacks
- Hand written notes expressing your thanks
Everyone is busy and on Veteran’s Day we’ll be inundated with advertising. It will be easy to see November 11th just as another great sale day…but it is so much more. Perhaps the most important thing you could do is ask a veteran you know to tell you about their experience and then listen. Just really listen.
Many people plan their own funeral in advance. They keep their plan on file at the funeral home of their choice so that everyone in their family knows exactly what to do when they die. Others choose a more informal route and just tell their kids what they would like to have done. In either case, there are three things that will need to be covered.
When a person is in the midst of grief, taking care of themselves can get lost in the mayhem. There really are so many things to do. Eating well, exercise, and even sleep just don’t seem that important. The reality is that grief takes a lot of energy. Self-care might just be the most important item on the agenda.
The Normandy American Cemetery is the resting place for 9,387 Americans, most of whom gave their lives during the landing operations and in the establishment of the beachhead. The headstones are of white Italian marble adorned with a Star of David for those of Jewish faith and a Latin Cross for all others.
What’s the story behind flowers at a funeral? Well, back in the day before funeral directors perfected the art and science of embalming, flowers were used to mask the odor of the body.
Now is the time. Capture those stories. Ask your parent(s) about their life before you. Ask the same of grandparents. Ask about their hopes and dreams. What surprised them? What was fun and what was hard? Capture the stories and the life lessons. Prepare to celebrate the grands as well as the grads.
It is also possible for family members to keep the remains in an urn or in attractive jewelry pieces. The best person to help you sort out all of these decisions and choices is your funeral director or advance funeral planner. Both typically offer consultation at no cost.
It’s a question we all hear almost every day. “Hi, how are you?” But it has a different feel when you have recently lost someone you love. It just feels heavier. So how do you deal with that question?
Without a doubt, funerals are changing. Funeral services have become less formal and are noticeably more personal. They are sometimes religious and sometimes they are not. Funerals are often shorter and sometimes take place weeks after the death. There may be more songs, more pictures, and there is much more creativity at many funerals today.
Football, the American kind played with a spheroid shaped ball called a pig skin, is the be all end all fall activity for millions of Americans.
No obituary was written, no stone was laid, no words were spoken, no one gathered, no songs were sung and yet…
