Thoughtfulness and Effort Doesn't Go Unnoticed

For a few years now we have received cards in the mail at Christmas time and on Veteran's Day. It is a card from a complete stranger and I can't even begin to count the number of signatures on it. The first time we got a card in the mail I cried. I haven't cried since that first card, but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it or that I value it any less. Every time I see the scrawly handwriting on a card addressed to 'Mark Rummel and Family,' I get a smile on my face. I have no idea who this man is. He's never met myself or the kids or Mark. He's a friend of Mark's grandfather, (or so I believe.) He has taken it upon himself to send cards to us to tell us how much they appreciate his service to this country. Every member of that church must sign the cards. They have to! There are so many signatures on the cards that they have to write on the backs of them! That many people have taken a minute or two from their life to write a simple "Thank You" or "God Bless you and your family!" They, have taken time to acknowledge that there is more to life than what they have and see. When I cried the first time I got the card it was because very few people say thank you or even appreciate what Mark does. Now I smile because I know that LOTS of people appreciate him (and every other service member). I smile because to those people, he is a hero. I smile because they aren't afraid to say thank you. I smile because they care. I smile because it means a lot to me, the kids and Mark. So, for that little old man, his wife and the members of the church he attends, I have to say 'THANK YOU!" Gratitude is not gone from this country, and the proof is in the card.