Air Force Academy graduation

The AFA graduation has been a tradition for us over the past several years. It's not the actual graduation that we watch, but the performance of the Air Force Thunderbirds that follows the ceremony. We've parked on the same road for four or five years. In fact, there are countless wonderful vantage points across the highway from the Academy.

It's awesome living so close. Gliders and tow planes are a common sight year round. It's always a thrill to see the parachutist practices too. And every year prior to graduation, the Thunderbirds practice for several days in the skies above our house.

And every year, we pack up snacks and chairs, drive to our favorite spot and wait. I usually get pretty emotional . . . the freedom I feel watching the jets, how grateful I am to these and to all our military, true heroes who are out there every day, fighting not just for our country, but for others to have those same freedoms . . . It's definitely one of the "proud to be an American" times that tug at one's heart. We have the greatest Air Force in the world, don't you think? This was the first year I didn't tear up--I was too busy taking pictures, 90 by the time it was done.






We met friends there too. While we're enthralled with this once a year show, the boys happily played. I guess the field was more exciting, lol.

"The values of duty and service and sacrifice may be old, but that is because they are timeless. They may be obvious, but that is because they are true. They are interwoven into the very fabric of our nation’s past, present, and future."

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates
Air Force Academy Commencement 2007