Reflecting.............

This time last Sunday I was sewing and singing, practicing the National Anthem and America the Beautiful. I was asked to share both songs at the local Veteran’s Day observance here in Henderson. I love to sing and I may not be good enough for The Voice or anything like that, but I do my best and always feel so relaxed after singing. It just makes me smile. J  And while November 11th was the official Veteran's Day, it fell on a Sunday so it was observed on Monday. It was kind of like having two Veteran's Days. The local Veteran's participated in at least three ceremonies, two of them here in Henderson.  The first was at Hilltop Elementary. Adjutant Vic Leuders did a great program that got kids involved in answering why we observe Veteran's Day, naming the Armed Forces, our Commander in Chief, etc. There was a variety of answers! 
After the program was over at Hilltop Elementary there was a dinner that was served to the Veteran’s. At each place setting there were special placemats drawn by the 4th and 5th grade students. Because I sang for the program, I was invited to the dinner. I considered it a real honor to be seated with so many who have served from WWII to Korea to Vietnam.  Before sitting down to eat, I read almost all of the placemats. They made me smile to see what they drew and wrote. When dinner was finished and before the tables were cleaned……….I took these four placemats and wanted to share them with all of you............

Now, I don't the names of any of the young artists but I thank them for sharing their patriotic messages!
After the program at Hilltop, we went to the program over at the Minnesota New Country School.  The featured speaker there was a helicopter pilot who flew many missions during the Vietnam war. His first name is Ray and I do not recall his last name. He mentioned an interesting fact, that this Veteran's Day was the first one to not have a living WWI Veteran. The last WWI Veteran passed away in February of this year. Now I must apologize because here is a local WWII veteran who celebrated his 102nd birthday!  I was invited to join the party because I had sung during the day. My friend, Bert, is on the right and he invited me to join the men and their wives as they celebrated this occasion. My friend, Arden, is on the left. I promise to find out the names of the veteran serving up the birthday cake and the veteran who is celebrating. Thanks to both, to all the men and women who serve in the military!!

I look forward to singing in future observances that honor those serve! 

This post was written on Sunday afternoon, November 18. And just as I wanted to publish it, we lost our Internet service. We didn't get it back until this Monday morn. Just glad it was finally restored!
Sandi