Grateful & Proud

Yesterday was an Air Force Academy Football game. We've had season tickets for about 10 years, but these particular seats have been in the Mr's family since the beginning, sometime in the 1960's, I'm guessing. We were given the privilege of renewing them when the Aunts & Uncles who preceded us could no longer attend. We sit on the 50-yard line towards the top of the 2nd tier. They are really good seats and we enjoy the camaraderie of the same fellow fans game after game and year after year. The funny thing is, other than Air Force, we don't even follow football.

So we arrived early to the game yesterday, as is our custom. In fact, we were the very first ones sitting in our section. This year there is a new feature to our tickets - $5 to spend in the stadium on food or fan paraphernalia. Previous years we would pack a lunch and have a mini tailgate party, but now we go into the stadium and head to the Chik-Fil-A stand to buy lunch. Then we wander to our seats and enjoy the team warm-ups. As we sat in the warm sun eating our chicken sandwiches I remarked to the Mr, "We have a good life!" And he agreed. We couldn't imagine anything we'd rather be doing at that moment. It was a beautiful September day in Colorado, sunny and warm with just the faintest hint of cool weather to come. But we will enjoy it just as much in November when the sun sets behind the stadium and the temperature plummets to well below freezing and the flag is standing at attention from the gale force winds.

AFA Football is in a class by itself. Of course being at a military academy there is a certain pageantry that is not duplicated: the march-on of the cadets; the full-crowd participation in singing the national anthem; the parachutists that drop into the stadium with the American flag, the POW flag, and the game ball; the half-time show with the falconry demonstrations; the flyovers. Flyovers are a particular highlight. A formation of F-16's flying in formation directly overhead, then turning on the afterburners as they point noses toward space always brings a tear to my eye. The technology and good 'Ole American ingenuity that has culminated in such a marvelous machine makes my head spin. There are usually special presentations during breaks in the game. Yesterday, two Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, circa WWII, were recognized. As we walk out out of the stadium, Lee Greenwood belts out "Proud to be an American," as he has after every game for the last 7 years.

And I am proud. But more than that, I am grateful. I'm grateful for this life, for this country, for this place that I live, and for the people who share all of this with me, and I am not too proud to say so. I'm grateful for the those Medal of Honor recipients who know the cost of our freedom and for the young men and women standing on the field just starting their military careers. I'm grateful for all the families who give their blessing as their own take a stand and are willing to lay down their own lives for a greater cause. I'm grateful for the men and women who started a great experiment in democracy almost 250 years ago, and I'm grateful for those that continue to work out the details daily at the local, state and federal levels. I'm grateful that I have opportunity to express my ideas and I'm grateful for those whose ideas differ from my own. I'm grateful that in a week of economic turmoil, the Mr. & I own our home debt-free and smile at the future. I'm grateful for so much more, and I am very proud to be an American!