Merry Christmas to you and yours wherever you may be.

As I sit here in a warm kitchen sipping a cup of coffee, I can’t help remembering back to being a little boy some 60 years ago, I can only give thanks that I’ve made it this far. I remember the first bike, the first Tonka toys (what I wouldn’t give to still have them), riding over to my friends houses to see what they got and playing for hours…

Then the military, some years Christmas was a string of tinsel in the shop in some overseas location and a box of cookie crumbs.  Other years it was taking the watch so another sailor could have Christmas with his wife and kids.

And ‘enjoying’ one of these…

And then it was my family, those first Christmases with my daughters, watching them tear into the wrapping paper with glee, and playing as much with the boxes as the dolls and other toys.

Now I get to watch that for another generation and I’m truly humbled by it.  And thankful I made it this far.  I also can’t help but remember those that didn’t. the ones who for a myriad of reasons aren’t spending time with their families, because we buried them along the way, or they are standing the duty in those far flung locations far from home.

Take a moment and remember those who have the ‘duty’ today, be they LEOs, Medics, Firefighters, or in the military, wherever they may be.