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It's better to remember them while they're alive.

Amen. That is what Veterans Day is all about, honoring the living veterans.

A great idea is to visit a Veterans hospital or clinic near you. I have a clinic nearby I will take some flowers to on Monday (I expect they will be closed on Tuesday). At least it will brighten up the office for their visits for a few days. A minor gesture of appreciation as I believe we can never do enough.

That's a wonderful idea, snippy! I know there are local Veterans offices, too, where counseling is provided, lots of the Vietnam vets have needed help, in part because of the way they were treated. A bouquet would be welcome in those offices, too.

Several years ago, before I retired, I swam at the local Y, and on Saturdays got into the habit of chatting briefly with a fellow swimmer. I talked of my excitement about taking flying lessons and he talked about his father who built many of the wooden gliders for use in Europe in WWII. I told him my flight instructor was an old WASP pilot, still sharp as a nail in her mid-seventies. He asked if she knew the WASPs had finally gotten official recognition as vets, then asked her name and said he'd send her information about benefits.

Well, soon after she became seriously ill. She turned me over to another instructor and I drove up to visit her at the hospital on the weekends. One day she told me of an amazing visit from a woman who she'd trained with in the WASPs....a woman who now worked for the Veterans' Affairs, who came to see her about enrolling for benefits! She was terribly excited, and pleased. She died soon after, but was comforted that she was going to have a military burial, wear her uniform, and at the gravesite, a few of her friends did a 'fly-over.'

There's veterans of all sorts, men and women. I really do treasure them all, and feel fortunate to have known quite a few.