~ The daughter of a Soldier ~

Last week I was in Atlanta,  Georgia attending  a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people  behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed  one of the greatest act's of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving thru  the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camo's, as they began heading to  their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their  hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them,  being applauded and cheered for it hit me.  I'm not alone.  I'm not  the only red blooded American who still loves this country and supports our  troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began  clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line  everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal.  Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service  men and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the  male soldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi," the little girl then she asked him  if he would give something to her daddy for her. The young soldier, he didn't  look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to  give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this  soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the  cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was  Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in  Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter,  Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up. When this  temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers  huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out  a military looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and  talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the  young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I  spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you." He then hugged this  little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished  by saying "your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything  and he is coming home very soon."

The mom at this point was crying  almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet he saluted  Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire  event unfolded As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate,  people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around,  their were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last  act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear  rolling down his cheek.

Author Unknown

We need to pray for and remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices.
At the end of  the day, it's good to be an American.