05/25/2026
Today is Memorial Day.
Not just a Monday.
Not just the unofficial start of summer.
Not just cookouts, lake days, and red white and blue paper plates.
Today is for the people
who left home one ordinary morning
and never came back.
It is for the mother
who still keeps his medals in the top drawer.
For the wife
who still reaches across the bed sometimes
out of habit.
For the little boy
who only knows his father
through photographs and folded flags.
Today is for the names carved into stone.
For boots that stopped walking.
For futures that were handed over
so ours could keep going.
And maybe that is the hardest part of Memorial Day.
Realizing your ordinary life
was once somebody’s sacrifice.
The laughter in your backyard.
The sound of your children safe inside the house.
The freedom to wake up slowly
and decide what kind of life you want to live.
Somebody gave up everything for that.
So today,
before the burgers hit the grill
and the fireworks light the sky,
may we stop long enough to remember:
freedom has always been expensive.
And somebody else paid the bill.
