My youngest daughter describes a warmness she feels in her heart in the days leading up to visits with family. That’s a similar feeling I experience every time I stand, hand over my heart, for the national anthem at a sporting event, watch a video of a military parent surprising their family with an early homecoming, or listen to Lee Greenwood’s “I’m Proud to be an American” song. Maybe my strong patriotism comes from having vivid 5th grade memories of writing to Desert Storm troops (I still have those letters). Or, maybe it’s a character trait passed down from my grandmother (the most pride-filled patriot I knew) and my dad and grandfather, who both served in the military. Whether it’s more nurture or nature, I’m thankful for all the biological and life experiences that give me such American pride.
Last year on Veterans Day I brought my girls to the Veterans Freedom Park in Cary, NC. I’ve passed by this park dozens of times over the years and finally visited last year. Veterans Freedom Park is located at 1517 N Harrison Ave in Cary. It contains a 90-foot Freedom Tower spire in the middle of a circular path with the five seals of the US armed forces and benches for reflection. Before walking around the tower we slowly walked along the outside of the memorial, taking in the plaques, admiring the military and state flags, and pausing at the fallen soldier “some gave all” statue.
Even though it was an overcast day in the middle of a pandemic without a in-person ceremony we felt full of compassion as we chatted with veterans about their military careers. They spoke with such pride and patriotism as they told us about their helicopter maintenance responsibilities.
Thinking back to my conversations with the veterans made me want to interview other veterans. So, I recently asked my dad more details about his service in the Navy. I wanted to string together the bits and pieces of stories I’d heard over the years. And, because he served in the Navy before I turned one year old I don’t have any memories.
My dad served in the Navy from 1977 until 1981 as an IFT (in-flight technician) aboard a P3-Orion. He was part of the VP-11 Patrol Squadron based out of Brunswick, ME responsible for monitoring Soviet submarines. My next question to my dad was, “How do you monitor subs from the air?” to which he replied, “By dropping salt water activated sonobuoys.” Duh! I know the military is known for having the coolest equipment, but my mind was blown away by such an amazing piece of technology.
As an IFT on a P3 my dad was part of a 13-man crew, responsible for making inflight repairs to the aircraft – basically, he was charged with keeping the plane in the air. He spent time deployed to the Azores, Germany, Spain, Italy, Chile, Puerto Rico, and Greece, to name a few places. Every other day they conducted 15-hour flying missions. My dad recalled one particular month where they required a special sign-off to exceed their 150 flying hours. Phew – that is a lot of air time!
With so much air time, my dad also helped cook meals on an electric griddle. On most “off days” they performed ground work to maintain other planes on the base. When granted true time off he explored the local countryside with his buddies. When I was born in August 1980, the Navy granted him a short leave from his deployment in the Azores to be with my mom and meet me. Again, military family reunions choke me up, so I can only imagine what it’s like to personally experience one.
In chatting with my dad about his Navy experiences, he amazed me with the amount of details he remembered. But, I guess when the Navy tasked him with super important roles on a global level it really left a lasting impression. Just like my phone call interview to my dad, a veteran, left a lasting impression.
Fun Facts:
My grandfather (my dad’s dad) served in the Korean War from 1952-1954 as an Army tank mechanic. He knew the ins and outs of every piece of heavy equipment because of his time at Buick, so it served him well in the Korea conflict. He, too, missed my dad’s birth because of being overseas. I suppose some things are a result of one’s nature 😉
Local Veterans Day Events:
- Veterans Freedom Park (Cary, NC) ceremony
- Veterans Day Events at John Chavis Memorial Park (Raleigh, NC)
- NC State Veterans Day 5k Run & Ceremony at Belltower (Raleigh, NC)
- Franklin County Veterans Day Drive-Thru Event (Franklin Co, NC)
- Donate blood at a local TBC center (Raleigh and beyond)
Back in June, my sister and niece visited the same weekend we planned a trip to 
Lace up your hiking boots and head outside on New Year’s Day for an organized hike in a local park. Every state park in NC (city parks are catching on, too) organizes 
Falls Lake State Recreation Area – scavenger hunt with hike along Rolling View Track Trail (0.75 miles); start times at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm; pre-registration is required; prepare for natural surface walking; 
Umstead State Park – 1.3 mile hike along Pott’s Branch Trail; start location: small parking lot by Pott’s Branch trailhead (Hwy 70/Glenwood Ave); 9am start time; 
Over the past few years I’ve continually heard about the amazing “dragon” park in Cary with great play areas for all kids.  Well, we finally ventured to the super popular Marla Dorrel Park, which features the 
Beyond this playground is another play structure with graduated levels of difficulty that feature wheelchair ramp access, twisty slides, arched ladders, a fun rolling slide, interactive play items and so much more.  Tot swings, traditional swings and chair swings are also located nearby including a swinging platform with wheelchair accessible ramps.  The playground surface is mostly sand so bring your sand toys or enjoy the diggers; but wide paved sidewalks wind throughout making it easy to access all areas.  They even have wheelchair-accessible sand tables along the pathways!
One sunny morning this winter we headed out to Cary for haircuts followed by a visit to the nearby Robert Godbold Park. Â I’m always impressed by the Town of Cary parks and despite being an older park it packed the fun.
After exhausting the playground we walked over to the basketball courts to run around some more.  We had a quick snack on the nearby picnic tables and then ran through the woods a bit before walking to the adjacent skate park to check out all the construction.  The skate park was temporarily closed for renovations, but according to the 
So, for our hike we headed out to the 
So we set off and hiked for a mile until we came to the creek. Â Before heading across the bridge we walked down some steep rocks and had a snack along the creek’s edge near the remnants of the old mill wall. Â According to an information board near the parking lot, Company Mill was built in 1810 by Anderson Page and was used for grinding wheat and corn. Â It was also a popular spot to have fish fries, weddings, and social gatherings before being washed away by a flood in the 1930s. Â There are several flat spots below the old wall and near the water that are great for stopping. Â A friendly photographer took our picture for us and then warned us of some water snakes he saw (luckily we didn’t see any). Â After our snack we headed across the bridge and turned right to join the few crowds on the large rocks near the opposite side of the creek bank. Â Ashley loved scooting down to the water and got tickled when I told her she could take her shoes and socks off and soak her piggies in the water. Â This child was in heaven! Â And, after a short while later we hiked the one mile route back to our car. Â She was pretty exhausted for the last half of the hike home, but stayed in good spirits and finished on her own…I was so proud of her!
MacDonald Woods Park has playground areas for the 2-5 and 5-12 age groups with two swings for both groups. The 5-12 age playground is rather large with several ladders and slides, monkey bars, and climbing wall with rope. The loop-shaped ladder was by far a challenging favorite for this duo. The younger playground is very small with only 2 slides, steps and a platform ladder. There are a few bouncy rides and a small low-to-the-ground structure for early walkers. A small elevated sandbox is located between the two playground areas. But, by far, the best feature of this park is the merry-go-round. Yes, that’s right…they have a merry-go-round! Go Cary! Of all the parks we’ve been to this was a first so you can imagine the confusion when the girls first saw it. Having never been on a merry-go-round they watched several groups of people get on and off before getting on with a group of toddler girls. These sweet maniacs quickly caught on as to why you hold on to the bars but also moved into more challenging feats such as dangling their feet over the edge. That proved to be rather anxiety-ridden for us but they had fun and no one went flying off the thing, so it was a success!
This past winter has been one of the longest I’ve seen since moving to Raleigh over 11 years ago so when the temps hovered above 45 degrees in January we headed to North Cary Park with a friend and her girls for a short run and playground time. Â North Cary Park is located at 1100 Norwell Blvd in Cary off of Cary Pkwy. Â It’s a very large park situated along the northern end of 
