Face Beside the Veteran

Several years ago I participated in a ceremony to honor a group of veterans. These guys were all very deserving and all very humble about their service — some of their stories were pretty amazing. While I stood at the front, and the service members were being recognized amid a lot of celebration and ceremony, my gaze was drawn to the face of a wife of one of the veterans. I will never forget looking at the face of that wife and seeing the tears in her eyes that quickly pooled and ran down her face. 

There are many women that were and are like her.  Women who stayed home, cared for the children, often alone without family or friends who were far away. They took the meager paycheck of a service member and paid the bills. Volunteered in schools, churches, and many other places in the community. When children not old enough to understand asked the inevitable question of when Daddy would be coming home, she quieted their restless hearts never exposing the same question and fears in her heart. Sometimes she sat with children far too young to even fully grasp the absence of their father and shared with them pictures of a father that they did not yet even know. Then at night, when it was far too quiet and lonely for one so tired, I wonder how often she prayed out to God for her husband who was thousands of miles away and hope that her quiet sobs would not awaken the young. 

While I am sure almost all eyes were on those we were honoring, and deservedly so, my eyes could not turn from that face and the intense pride and love that was evident there. As she stood she grasped the hand of her loved one and held that which had been denied to her so many long and sleepless nights. Yet, she asked no remembrance, she coveted no glory. She was content that by her side was her true love and in our honoring him she demonstrated such sincere pride. This lady became the face I see when I think of veterans.