Happy Memorial Day, my crafty friends!
Please, do not forget to hug, thank a Veteran or someone still serving this great nation.
This day is all about honoring them
but we also love crafts around here.
So, I went through the archives and pulled out my favorite patriotic crafts!
I hope you can visit each blog and say “hello.”
I simply love this mantel shared by Detail Oriented Diva.
This is such a fun table runner and could even be a tablecloth shared by Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom.
Need a fun kids craft? This Windsock from Random Thoughts of a Supermom.
Finally, this post was a winner from 2011 and still amazes me. These stairs, shared by That’s My Letter, is just beautiful!!!!
The CSI Project over the years has shared many, many patriotic crafts and ideas!!!
To many more craft inspiration. More creating. More Sharing and More Inspiring!
And a very special “Thank you” to all of the verterans whose service will never be forgotten and always appreciated.
Also, today we celebrate, Mr. CSI. A Commander in the US Navy. His service as an F-18 pilot will never be forgotten.
This is his own words from his last deployment to Iraq. I am so grateful he kept a journal.
“Back when I was a kid Memorial day meant one thing to me. The start of fishing season. All winter I looked forward to the annual fishing trip to Panguitch Lake with my father. But beyond that, I didn’t have any idea what the holiday was about. Hopefully I have grown wiser through the years, and I think I understand better what it means. You see..every day over the last few months I have been privileged to climb a flight of stairs at least 10 or 12 times a day on the way to my duty station. Along the walls of the stairwell are the photographs of men who gave their lives in the service of our nation. This “Hall of Heroes” has a variety of faces on it. Most show the individual as they looked in battle, equipped for their mission, weapon in hand, a snapshot taken by buddies with the barren wasteland of a foreign nation for a backdrop. A few show the service member in his dress uniform, laden with medals and with our beloved flag behind him.
But at the top of the stairs, just before turning the corner, one photo is different. It catches my eye everytime I pass. It isn’t different only because the man in the photo is wearing civilian clothes, in front of a fireplace in what appears to be his home. It is different due to the blonde tuft of hair from a young girls piggytail that is visible in the lower right corner of the picture. The photo, appears to be from a family portrait…cropped and framed to memorialize the man.
When I see this photo, I wonder about the girl whose face I do not see. How old was she when her father died? What will she remember of him? I am sad for her, that she will never again feel the warmth of her father’s hug in this life. Her memories of him will fade over time. And he will not be there, to watch his young daughter grow to be a woman.
I realize now that Memorial day is more than fishing, barbecues, movies and vacations. It is about lost time. Time that was given up by these men of courage who defend our freedom. Time that was lost by this young girl to be with her father. All across our great nation there are parents without their sons, children without their fathers and wives without their husbands. These personal tragedies are unfelt by the rest of us. But to these men we owe the time we share on this holiday with our own loved ones.
On this memorial day, I ask that each of us think of that young girl in piggy tails, who will be missing her father. Please say a prayer for her and for the thousands of others like her who have lost what is most precious to them. And let us give our gratitude to for who stood up and went when their nation called…and never came home.”
Hug a Vet today! Say thank you!