Veteran's Day, 2011

I took this picture with my phone back in July, but I thought it was perfect for today.

Yesterday was a pretty special day.  My kids are off school today, Veteran's Day, so yesterday they had an assembly at the high school and invited all of the veterans that work with the school district to come and let the kids and community members honor them.  We had a stage full of vets...and not all of them were able to make it.  It was a great ceremony and many were touched by the power point that was put on by the media class in which they interviewed  several district employees that served in the military. 

The real highlight, however, was that yesterday was also our first graduation ceremony of the school year.  You see, the state of KS has made it possible to grant high school diplomas to qualifying veterans of WWII and the Korean war, who for different circumstances (usually because they were overseas serving our country) never got to graduate when it was their time.  Yesterday, we had the opportunity to honor one of those men.  He had no idea that when he came to the ceremony, he was also attending his own graduation.  They supplied him with a cap and gown, and a well earned diploma.  Many thanks to our local VFW and Tonganoxie High School for filing the paperwork to make this happen.  My oldest daughter said she cried four times during the assembly.  I think that that pretty much sums it up.

Thank you to all of the vets who have served our country, buying us the freedom that we so often take for granted.