Thankful...

So I saw this on one of my friends facebook, I read it and it made me tear up. I want to say thanks to all those who have served, are serving, and will serve. Thank you for all you do, there are still people who remember what sacrifices you are making. I also want to say thanks to those who have someone serving in their family whether it be their husband, wife, son, brother, sister, daughter, mother, or father, you guys are just as brave as those whom serve. They couldn't do it without your support. A lot of those serving dont get to be home for Christmas. What a great season to let them know we are thinking of them and love them for what they do. We should support them and remember them this holiday season and send our love their way and the way of their families. Much love. Here is the poem I saw..

A Soldier's Christmas

By Michael Marks

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,

I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight;

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,

My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,

Transforming the yard to a winter delight;

The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,

Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,

Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep

In perfect contentment or so it would seem,

So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,

But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear;

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,

And I crept to the door just to see who was near;

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,

A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,

Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold;

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,

Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,

"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,

You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift

Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light,

Then he sighed and he said "It's really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line

That separates you from the darkest of times;

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

"My Gramps died at 'Pearl' on a day in December,"

then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram' always remembers;

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam,

And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

"I've not seen my own son in more than a while,

But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile;"

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,

The red white and blue ... an American flag.

"I can live through the cold and the being alone

Away from my family, my house and my home;

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,

I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

"I can carry the weight of killing another

Or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers

Who stand at the front against any and all,

To insure for all time that this flag will not fall.

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,

Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least

Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,

For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,

"Just tell us you love us, and never forget

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,

To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

"For when we come home, either standing or dead,

To know you remember we fought and we bled

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust

That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."