The daughter of a Soldier

Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was
in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me
beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed
one of the greatest act's of patriotism I have ever seen.

Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camo's, as
they began heading to their gate everyone (well almost everyone) was
abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw
the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for it
hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red blooded American who still
loves this country and supports our troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young
unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so
we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal. Just when I
thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men
and women a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of
the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said "hi," the little girl then
she asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her. The young
soldier, he didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would
try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little
girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she
could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughters name was Courtney,
told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in
Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter,
Courtney, missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up. When
this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of
the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other
servicemen pulled out a military looking walkie-talkie. They started
playing with the device and talking back and forth on it.

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to
Courtney, bent down and said this to her, "I spoke to your daddy and he
told me to give this to you." He then hugged this little girl that he
had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by sayi ng
"your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and
he is coming home very soon."

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young
soldier stood to his feet he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was
standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event unfolded As the
soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed
their applause.
As I stood there applauding and looked around, their were very few dry
eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of
selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear
rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and
thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's
good to be an American.