Celebrate the last day of summer.....

Today we unoffically officially (double negative there)bid a fond farewell to summer and begin the fall (well I will concede that it really doesn't end until the 20th by the calendar year and my children started school a month ago, but we all know that Labor Day is the day the pools close, so it's the day I always counted as the end of summer because I always started back to school the next day.... so bear with me here, k?)

Most put away their white shoes (and those that don't keep a watch out for Kathleen Turner so you don't end up like the poor juror in Serial MOM) Go read this post from Hooahwife from last year, I love the post and the comments about the white shoe issues...... My position, well I have a fabulous pair of Brighton sandals, that I wear all the time, and I am simply NOT putting them away....it's still 95 degrees out......so for all the other fasion rule breakers out there.....you are my fashion heroes!

So back to the farewell to summer.....I was happy to bid winter goodbye, and pull out the cute spring things that were packed away....transition into summer with bathing suits and talks of the beach....and now to anticipate the cool air of fall and changing leaves on the trees. Even a teeny-tiny part of me is happy (I know I will hear grief on this from a few) to actually see the preparations for the fall and winter holidays in the stores. It is the seeing not just the knowing, that time passes and we all move forward.....each day flows into a week then a month and into the changing of seasons. Across the world military familes pull off the calendar pages and mark another milestone in our deployments, edging closer to the day we all will welcome our heroes home from far away.

Most of us learned about the beginnings of Labor Day, I still remember how it came to be and I know that there is still somewhat of a debate ongoing as to who was the founder of it......I know what it did in terms of the foundation and protection it laid for our country's workforce. It along with the events of "May Day" and those that stood up and paid the price for America's workforce will forever be remembered thanks to this day. A day set aside every year to remember those who over a hundred years ago sacrificed so much for the rights of so many.

But today......for military spouses who are spending a long weekend alone or with their children, worried and feeling an absence in their hearts, no amount of history can replace that hole. I'd have to say that our milestones take a higher precedence.

So today, instead of Happy Labor Day, I wish you "Happy Reaching Another Milestone Towards Welcoming Your Hero Home Day". I'm sure I will say this again before my deployment is over, I tend to say this to my kids often....they sort of look at me funny and then tell me it's going to be alright......I think they are worried that I may just be a little off my rocker......I guess the don't get that I say if for them as much as for me. I'm think I'm just one of the exceptions to the rule.....I tell my kids how I feel and want them to talk to me about how they feel about it......I guess that might make me a little nuts. Gotta laugh here.....cause who wouldn't be?

So go out and do something nice for yourself today and if not today, soon because you deserve it!

~A Soldier's Wife