Dear Annie: Remembering those who served and their families

Dear Readers: Every Veterans Day, I always remember a woman I once met in an airport. She was sitting quietly by a window, holding a small American flag in one hand and a welcome home sign in the other. The edges of the sign were worn, clearly used more than once.

Her son had been deployed three times. “He says not to make a fuss,” she told me, smiling through tears. “But how do you not make a fuss when your whole heart is finally coming home?”

That is what Veterans Day feels like to me, a moment to make a fuss. To stop and remember that behind every salute, every medal, every folded flag, is a story, a family, a heartbeat.

Some of our veterans came home to parades. Others came home quietly, carrying memories that do not fit into words. Some never came home at all, but their courage li