Memorial Day will always mean more to our family than cookouts or a long weekend.
It’s the sound of boots on concrete.
The weight of a folded flag in shaking hands.
Three children growing up with memories instead of a father.
A headstone in Section 60 with a date that changed the course of all our lives forever.
SSG Alan W. Shaw, was killed in Iraq on February 9, 2007. He was 31 years old. He didn’t get the chance to come home, grow old, meet grandchildren, or live the quiet life so many of us take for granted.
That’s what Memorial Day means to us.
It’s not abstract. It’s not political. It’s personal.
But over the years, I’ve also realized something else. The men we honor today did not give everything so America would sit in mourning forever. They believed in life. In freedom. In family. In backyard barbecues, ballgames, loud laughter, and the simple privilege of being home.
So yes, remember them. Speak their names. Teach your children who they were. Fly the flag. Visit the cemetery.
And then live.
Live in a way worthy of what they gave up for the rest of us. Because they are never truly gone as long as somebody is still speaking about them. 🇺🇸
🚨 BREAKING: Florentino Perez has told his close associates, right before today's press conference: "I'm very tired."
All alarms are now ON at Real Madrid. @abc_es
🚨 JUST IN: Florentino Perez and his advisors believe that the squad is VERY good, and that many players that got WORSE under Xabi Alonso & Alvaro Arbeloa, could return to a TOP level if they receive the right support from a new coach. @jfelixdiaz
@theMadridZone Can’t score, can’t defend, can’t control a game, can’t create opportunities. At what point does the board blow this up in the largest manner imaginable. This is beyond disgraceful
Sell every single valuable asset above the age of 25, recall Paz and Endrick, buy and stockpile young talent, avoid relegation the next two seasons. But above all, sell Vini #RealMadrid
On September 11, 2001, 24-year-old Welles Remy Crowther was working on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower when Flight 175 hit the building.
He was trapped 27 floors above the impact zone a place almost nobody survived.
But instead of only trying to save himself, Welles stayed behind to help others escape.
Before heading into the smoke, he left his mom a voicemail:
“Mom, this is Welles. I want you to know I’m OK.”
Welles was also a volunteer firefighter back home in New York, and he always carried a red bandana his father gave him as a kid.
Survivors later remembered seeing a man with a red bandana covering his face, leading people to safety, carrying injured victims down stairs, and going back up again and again to help more people.
He reportedly saved at least 18 lives before the South Tower collapsed.
For months, nobody knew who “the man in the red bandana” was.
Then in 2002, his mother read survivor stories in a newspaper and realized they were talking about her son.
Welles Remy Crowther will always be remembered as a real hero. ❤️
🚨 BREAKING: The first player to openly CONFRONT Alvaro Arbeloa was EDUARDO CAMAVINGA.
Camavinga was upset at being subbed off in one of Arbeloa's first games, and he DIRECTLY told Arbeloa about it.
That confrontation was the beginning of a TENSE relationship between the two.
The relationship is now cold and distant. @marca