Today is November 11th, 2011, or 11-11-11. I agree with people that it is a bit of a novelty, being all ones, but is it as special as some people make it out to be. People are so excited to be getting married today that on the news I saw a line of people outside a courthouse just to file the papers to get married. I read an article a week or so ago in the newspaper about a woman who was adamant that she get married on either 10-10-10, 11-11-11, or 12-12-12, and she got today. I've been seeing 11-11-11 all over the place for the past month and, honestly, it's been bugging me a lot. I don't think I really realized why it bugged me so much until this morning at work.
I work at a job that takes care of developmentally disabled people and in the mornings I go to their houses and help them get ready for the day. As I was leaving one house this morning I noticed a flag on the lawn, placed there by the local boy scout troop in honor of Veterans Day. And that's when it hit me, today should be about veterans not the novelty.
Veterans Day has always been somewhat important to me, probably because it's the day after my birthday. Ever since I found out that Veterans Day was November 11th I have observed it in the very least by announcing to people that it's Veterans Day. This year however, Veterans Day has a more personal meaning to me. I feel that on Veterans Day we should not only honor those who have served in the armed forces but also those who are serving right now, regardless of their technical status as a "veteran." A few months ago my brother-in-law, husband of my sister, was deployed to Afghanistan. I'm gonna be honest about this and if he's reading, don't hate me for saying this. When I first met my Brother-in-law, Kelson, I found him annoying. When he dated my sister, I found him even more annoying, and when they got engaged was extremely annoyed, but something has happened. I've realized that Kelson is exactly what my sister needs and therefore exactly what my family needs. To hear that he was deployed was like hearing that my own brother had been deployed. I know that it's affected my sister, even if she puts the happy face on it whenever I talk to her. In the end though, Kelson is family.
This is for Kelson. Don't do anything stupid out there Kelson, because my sister needs you and we need you. I may still think you're kind of a doofus, but as Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly said, "You're part of my crew." So do what you need to do and get home safe.
