Memorial Day will always mean more to our family than cookouts or a long weekend.
It’s the sound of boots on concrete.
The weight of a folded flag in shaking hands.
Three children growing up with memories instead of a father.
A headstone in Section 60 with a date that changed the course of all our lives forever.
SSG Alan W. Shaw, was killed in Iraq on February 9, 2007. He was 31 years old. He didn’t get the chance to come home, grow old, meet grandchildren, or live the quiet life so many of us take for granted.
That’s what Memorial Day means to us.
It’s not abstract. It’s not political. It’s personal.
But over the years, I’ve also realized something else. The men we honor today did not give everything so America would sit in mourning forever. They believed in life. In freedom. In family. In backyard barbecues, ballgames, loud laughter, and the simple privilege of being home.
So yes, remember them. Speak their names. Teach your children who they were. Fly the flag. Visit the cemetery.
And then live.
Live in a way worthy of what they gave up for the rest of us. Because they are never truly gone as long as somebody is still speaking about them. 🇺🇸