- Brydon

Jackie B. Goode’s Midtown Café (attached to our theater): Back in operation.

Parking Lot: The tornado just pulled up light posts like they were baby carrots. That was a weak analogy but you get my point.

In the auditorium: Our new sky roof. They’ve re-installed a brand new roof on the entire theater now.

The entrance: Next time we should be more particular about who we allow to enter. A “No tornadoes allowed to enter” sign would probably be in order.

More entrance

The lobby: The lobby was pretty demolished, but NO priceless Dick Clark’s memorabilia was harmed and none of the box office computer systems were touched either. All of our offices were preserved as well. What a blessing!

The auditorium: Thank goodness it was sunny day after the tornado. There was a lot of water damage inside the auditorium though, so we have brand-new sound, lighting and video equipment which will make the show even better than it was.

The sign on the corner: Our sign survived but not very well. That will be new too. 

More parking lot

More parking lot: This tram didn’t fair very well, but again, a new and improved tram is coming.

Okay, this will probably be a short blog post this month. People ask us all of the time what we do during our “off-season.” I put “off-season” in quotation marks because quotation marks indicate what people say, and “off-season” is what people say. We (The Bretts) don’t call it the “off-season,” nor does anybody on our team. It’s against our company policy actually. We all call it the “prep-season” in quotation marks so we stay in the attitude of work and preparation. That’s why we do it. So, now that we’ve got that cleared up, here’s a little photo journey of what we do during our quotation mark prep-season quotation mark. Nothing big, I just snapped these photos with my cell phone, but it’s better than watching Nicki Minaj on the Grammy’s Show (or so I hear – I didn’t watch). Hope everyone had a happy Valentine’s week!

Performing in Germany: Singing in Triberg, Germany at the end of December. It rocks! Our trip to Germany has become a "prep-season" tradition.

Special Appearances: Me performing at Branson High School's Project Graduation benefit show. That is Terry Wayne Sanders as Joan Rivers and Dr. Doug Hayter (superintendent of Branson schools). I'll probably grow my hair out like that.

Rehearsing: We are in rehearsals for tour dates and for our April 16 Branson opening. We're working on our sound and trying to get better.

Working on New Stage: This was our backstage at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater (See the video >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVOLVp5_e-o&list=UUmlC_Sv5zOv7XdW35LzLmng&index=1&feature=plcp) about two weeks ago. Totally new set. It's gonna be killy!

Tour Dates: Me on the Kris Allen stage in Conway, AR on our way to a tour date in Oak Grove, LA. Check our other tour dates for 2012 here >> http://www.brettfamily.com/schedule/tour-schedule/

Business Planning: We're in the office every day working with our team to make this year the best ever. We have an incredible team!

Office Work: Music business is often a lot more business than music, so there's always more to do than can be done. It's a 24/6 (we take Sundays off) job.

We’re also writing new songs, arranging new music, producing new shows, taking lessons (finally), giving lessons, fulfilling our church responsibilities and much more. We’re so excited about everything we’re doing. Sometimes when you get caught up in the busyness of business and all the tasks we “have to do,” we forget about why we’re doing it in the first place. It’s really all for you ultimately. Our goal is to positively transform lives, bring people closer together, and show the world that family can be cool again and that clean is cool too. We want you to be happier and better because of your association with us. I’ve said this before, but Branson is so cool because God, family, and country are cool here, and it’s those three pillars that keep us believing and moving forward. Hopefully it’s connecting with you and making a difference. Anyway, ‘til next month have a great one and just know that we love ya’. Thanks for everything!

Have you ever seen that People of Wal-Mart web site? It’s kind of a pop culture phenomenon. If you haven’t seen it then I’ll save you the trouble. It’s just pictures snapped of people shopping or loitering at Wal-Mart in sometimes unbelievable outfits and circumstances. I can’t honestly recommend perusing the site, but I’m sitting at gate E9 of the Atlanta, GA International Airport right now and I wish I had a camera.

I’m on the plane now. It’s been said that Delta stands for Don’t Even Leave The Airport. I don’t know who said that. I like Delta. Comfortable seats, nice flight attendants, just had a lovely chicken breast with spinach and garlicky stuffing. The lady in front of me just reclined her seat back to the fullest. I feel like a T-Rex trying to peck away at the keyboard now. This might be a shorter post than I was expecting to write.

We’re headed to Germany. We’ll be doing 14 shows at the Triberger Weihnachtszauber (Christmas Magic) festival in Triberg. It is beautiful there and the people are so cool. Dad speaks fluent German. None of us do. This means that we stand on stage smiling while dad talks (This isn’t really anything different from our English-speaking shows, but at least we can speak up for ourselves when he says something we find not funny). This also means that dad talks to the audience and frequently they point at me and laugh. I’m a pretty smart guy. I think dad just said something about me. I can say, “I’m hungry,” and “What’s up dog?” in German – a very useful combination if you’re starving and you need to borrow Das Puppy Chow from a German Shepherd. It would also be good if American Idol came to Deutschland and you had to translate for Randy Jackson.

The lady just left her seat for the lavatory. Should I prop her seat back up and see if she notices?

So we haven’t been good at keeping up with The Brett Gazette this fall. Blame it on our marketing guy. Honestly, we’ve just been snowed under with everything required to run this show business and we really apologize for not keeping in better contact with you. New Year’s resolution for sure. Anyway, I know you’ll forgive us because you haven’t written us a Brett Gazette either. J

There’s something about flying above the clouds and leaving your native land a thousand miles behind that makes you kind of reflect on where you’ve been. We’ve had a great 2011. Our winter/spring tour was great. We didn’t think we could pull it off without Briahna on tour (she couldn’t tour because of the baby) but we did. Our Branson season was our best yet – record-setting in fact. Merrill finished basic training and is now an official member of the U.S. military. Ivan has only one bump on his head right now. Mom is working on a new project that should be exciting for all of our veterans. Dad is honestly singing better than ever. He pulled through a week of laryngitis that made us wonder if we would have to cancel shows for the first time ever. We didn’t have to cancel and he is feeling much better. We won Best Morning Show again and Best Patriotic Tribute. Garon is doing great down in Colombia. We’ll get to Skype him on Christmas day. And I am still working on a book and juggling many projects. Everything is in process and in progress. There is SO much more good to come!

She’s back. It’s time to wrap this up before she figures out how to turn her seat into a bed.

All of these interesting People of Delta make me think about the wonderful diversity and circumstances of you – our friends and fans. We have been so blessed this year to travel a lot and meet more people than ever. All of us come from different places and stages, but we all share the love of the good, the clean, and the wholesome. We have the best friends and fans! I don’t think we can say thank you enough for all of your support and encouragement this year. Next year is going to be even better! We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! See you in 2012!

P.S. They say that 75% of people read the post script. Just checking. Merry Christmas. 

"How's Garon doing?" My family and I get asked this question a lot. Garon is serving a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bogota, Colombia. Everyone always wonders if he's safe down there. Not to worry, Garon is completely safe, and he is having the best experience of his life. I should know because I also served a mission among the heathens…in Portland, OR. Seriously though, serving a mission was the best thing I ever did and I know Garon feels the same. We get weekly e-mails from him, and we get to talk to him on the phone twice a year – on Mother's Day and Christmas. He sounded great this last Mother's Day and his e-mails are something all of us look forward to every week. In this blog post we thought we'd share some excerpts from some of Garon's e-mails so you can get a glimpse of what he's doing down in South America. Take it away Garon…

"Hi family.  Before starting I will say, Yes, that is me on a llama…"

"Hi family. It's me again. I'm just here in Colombia where it's pretty darn hot. We've had quite a bit of rain this week though. I guess that's a little better than the snow that you all are going through though. I do have to admit that I miss seeing the snow a little bit.  This has been a pretty good week though….[Garon then started talking about a family he met in Colombia and their son who he has really come to love named Nelson] He's already started thinking about serving a mission. We walked to the airport together to say bye to Edgar Leon (he left Thursday for his mission) and Nelson and I talked the whole time about what the mission was like and how to prepare and different things. It was so awesome. He also told me… "I want to write a song for you to take back to america and sing with your brother". We showed up at their house yesterday and it was done. Ha It's seriously such a good song and just makes you happy. He kind of has a country groove mixed with Jason Mraz. It's so good and I'll be bringing that back to sing with my brother."

"Dear family….Well a cool experience was that we went to Jorge Betancour's house (21 year old inv) and when we got to his house I stood up on a ledge to look in his window and scare the heck out of him. Well he wasn't there so I put one foot down well the other one was on the ledge. I didn't really realize how high the ledge was and it was the moment in my life when i realized that my legs aren't very long. My one foot I was dropping touched the ground after my back did i think and i did a little flip thing and was on my feet. I hurt.  But I laughed at myself. Yep."

"Hi family. It is me. I'm pretty happy to hear that Branson is doing okay. Everyone keeps asking me if I still have a house and a family. I'm happy that I can now say yes. The truth is that part of me would really love to be there to go and help in Joplin. I don't like when things like that happen anywhere. It's amazing how events like that really open people up to conversations about God. We've had so many questions this week about "What do you think about all these disasters?" or "what is 

your take on the end of the world?". It's such a blessing to be able to calmly respond and help people understand the hope that we…have in terms of 'the end of the world'.

"Well hi there. It's just your son and brother again. So you all are pretty great. This week has been pretty great as well. We had 4 doctor appointments which to be honest I don't like cause it felt like such a waste of time cause we didn't work as much as we would have liked this week. Oh well, what do you do?It was good though cause the doctora cut my toenails out. So I don't have any pain at all. THats's pretty great. It reminded me of grandpa C though when he told us about getting his teeth fixed cause the lady didnt use anything to numb my toes and as I thought she was just looking at my toes she began to cut the infected part out. Haha She only used a little disinfectant spray. Ha it was pretty cool. Elder Salgado did take a video of it though so I'll try to send that. The other doctors visits were for Elder Salgado so I just did some studying and memorizing of scriptures.

Well the best things about this week have been that I'm starting to see my desires change. I realized this morning that I've always wanted to be someone that does things differently than others but now I really want to do things as Christ would do them. I think when we try to be more like Him we end up being different than others anyway. I'm a far ways off the target of being like Him obviously, but it was a nice realization this morning that I'm wanting that more. It makes this work a lot easier like Brydon said "when you do it His way" and not your own. That doesn't mean not to use your imagination, cause I think using your imagination is His way because He created us to create and imagine new ways. Our imaginations can only be used His way though if they're used under His guidelines….So i'm trying to use my imagination and creativity in His way to help people in their needs. It feels better."

Some of the family with the crew from our most recent tour date in Oakley, KS. On tour the days are longer and harder, but they're sweetness.

A lot of people ask what a typical day is like for a family in show business. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun but it can also get pretty crazy. By and large, what you see is what you get with our family. What we are on stage isn’t too much different than what we are off stage, except dad doesn’t do pirouettes off stage. He doesn’t do pirouettes on stage either. Point made. Anyway, we do have a pretty hefty schedule. Of course our schedule changes depending on whether we’re on the road, in Branson show season, or whatever, but here’s a small peek at what a typical Branson day is like in the life of a 26 year-old Brett who lives in his parents’ basement.

6:00 a.m. -  I’m awake at this time but some people in the house are up earlier. I do personal morning devotional, book-writing, and personal study things.
7:00 a.m. – Family scripture study and prayer.
7:15 a.m. – A little piano practice, some dance practice, and a little vocal training. Some mornings I have to get up and do promotionals or other work-related things.
8:15 a.m. – Shower (yes I do) and get ready for the day (I continue vocal warm ups in the shower – everyone in the house loves it), eat breakfast, continue listening to something educational on my iPod or something like that.
9:00 a.m. – Arrive at the theater to get ready for our morning show, curl my hair, etc. I always help greet all of the groups that come to the show in buses, which is a lot of fun.
9:45 a.m. – Onstage for pre-show festivities.
10:00 a.m. – Onstage dancing and singing and stuff like that.
12:00 p.m. – Saying goodbye to friends and fans, signing autographs ($5 per letter), taking pictures, etc.
12:45 p.m. – Get backstage, clean up my dressing room, get dressed in civilian clothes or do like video shoots and stuff. A lot of times we’ll have promotionals or video shoots or rehearsal-related stuff right after the show, but most of the time I just have to clean up and get everything ready for the show the next day.
1:00 p.m. – Most of the time I take lunch, but some times I forget. I’ve got to do better on that one this year.
2:00 p.m. – I’m up in the office to help with sales and marketing activities, production stuff, or anything else that is required to run the business side of things. Music business is often a lot more about business than about music. A lot of the time there will be other promotional activities and performances to do in the afternoon. It just depends on the day.
3:00 p.m. – We try to rehearse in the afternoon a few times a week. So, if we do, this is the time we normally do it.
5:00 p.m. – Back in the office trying to take care of all the work I didn’t get to earlier. There’s always like eight hours of work to try to do in three or four hours every day.
7:30 p.m. – We’re trying not to work past 7:30 this year, but it hasn’t been working so well since we had to get ready for a big tour, we’ve been trying to launch this new website, and all the other projects we have on the plate. Once again, it just depends on the day. If we’re on the road, then this is the time of night we’re typically doing shows and we’re traveling all throughout the day. If I get to come home at this time, then I have dinner with the family. For me, pretty much every night of the week is scheduled with family night, music lessons, songwriting sessions, youth night (I’m a youth leader in our church) or other projects that I’m trying to get done. I like to keep anxiously engaged in doing good things and make stuff happen. I also like to chill out and watch a movie with the family if time allows. I’m a big fan of family time (away from the stage and the office).
10:00 p.m. – This is my ideal bed time. How many times have I been able to make it this year? Not a good question to ask. I’m working on it. Most of the time I’m saying my evening prayer and getting in bed a little after 11:00 p.m. and then I start everything all over again the next morning.

Again, depending on the day or time of year we might be doing video shoots, recording sessions, radio interviews, traveling or any number of cool things. I never imagined myself having this kind of lifestyle, but I wouldn’t trade it. No sir. The coolest thing about Branson is that it still allows you to have a great family lifestyle and be in show business at the same time. We do quite a bit of touring but it’s not like we’re on the road all of the time and we don’t get to see our family. We can’t get away from our family! That’s actually the best part about it – that I get to do this with my family. It’s extremely rewarding. So, anyway, that’s about it on the typical day thing. Nothing glamorous, but I like it. I’m just a regular old dude, 26 years-old, living in my parents’ basement. No big deal.

There was one particular character I loved depicting the best—one that I loved mimicking and imagining myself as more than any other.  It wasn’t from a TV series or classic movie.  It wasn’t imagined up or created from some fictitious character.  It came from my everyday life.  It came from watching my Mom each day, from observing her in our home—loving, working, teaching, and nurturing.  I wanted to be my Mom.

Fast forwarding many years later, I found my Gilbert Blythe and my Prince Charming, realizing the dreams of a young, imaginative girl.  Soon to follow, my ultimate dream came true and I discovered that I was going to be a mom.  Throughout my entire pregnancy, I thought back to my years of watching and pretending to be my Mom, and wondered how I’d actually play the role myself.  Then it happened.  My sweet baby Ivan was born and I could now be a real, live mom.  That is me!  I’m a mom!

Since Ivan’s birth, over 5 months ago, I have found the role of mother to be more rewarding, heavenly, joyous, tiring, humorous and beautiful than ever imagined.  The same hours I spent pretending to be a mom are now spent actually being a mom, and I couldn’t be more blessed or happy.  As I wrote in a recent letter to my brother, Garon, who is serving a mission for our church in Bogotá, Colombia, “I LOVE being a mommy!  Being a mother to the most wonderful little son has made me happier and more purpose-filled than I’ve ever been before!  I absolutely love losing sleep, being spit up, drooled, pooped and peed on, doing endless laundry, having an achy back due to carrying Ivan all over the place, loading up tons of stuff everywhere I go, not having much if any control of my own schedule, and working harder, longer hours than I’ve ever worked before.  It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me!  I also love looking into my baby’s eyes and seeing how innocent, loving and sweet he is.  I love cuddling with him in my arms; watching him breathe softly while he sleeps; seeing his eyes light up and a big grin come across his face when he sees me; seeing him wake up in the morning with a big yawn and a stretch; spending precious “mommy/Bitty” time in the wee hours of the night when he’s hungry; holding him close to my body as he eats and holds my hand; watching him discover new things and being amazed at himself; seeing him develop and become more coordinated, aware, fascinated and strong; and the list goes on and on and on.  I love being a mom!!!”

From the stages of my imagination to the stage of real life, I am thankful for the role of mother, and am so happy to now make my “make believe” world a reality.

Actually all the Bretts have holes in our pockets. Why? Gratitude rocks. That’s right – gratitude rocks. Here’s the idea around gratitude rocks: basically you pick a rock to put in your pocket as a reminder to express gratitude. The rock represents something you’re grateful for. So until you express gratitude for something you can’t take the rock out of your pocket. Make sense? You can also put a handful of rocks in your pocket and thus motivate yourself to express gratitude more often. It’s a cool idea.

This Christmas we’ve been saving up a bunch of gratitude rocks for this final blog post of the year, so our pockets and our hearts are bursting at the seams. Here’s a little recap of The Bretts’ year 2010 wrapped in a warm blanket of gratitude rocks.

We are grateful…

• …for a new nephew/grandson/son. Ivan is awesome. He giggles a lot and he’s learning to trust his uncle.:) I’m also grateful I haven’t changed his diaper yet.
• …for a son/brother who loves the Lord and is serving Him for two years in Bogota, Colombia. Garon is awesome. I will say, however, that I’m grateful for this chance for mom to finally realize she loves me more than Garon while he’s away (it’s a middle child thing I think).
• …that Brydon (me) finally graduated college. I’m smart now!
• …for new Brett team members who are making a huge difference in our organization as we move forward.
• …for our most successful year in Branson ever, and an even more promising 2011 on the horizon!
• …for our most awarded season ever. If you read the news article you’ll know that The Bretts Show received 21 nominations and 7 awards this year. We are humbled and grateful for the recognition.
• …for mom & dad’s 30^th anniversary (And for my 26^th anniversary of not being married. I’m accepting marriage candidate resumes e-mailed to neverbeenmarried@liveinmyparentsbasement.com).
• …for good health, great friends, and a great family.
• …for incredible fan support! There are so many like-minded people like you who have helped make this year successful for us and for our cause. Thank you for making a difference. More good things to come!

A few weeks ago one of our team members told us that a man had been to our show and had shared a very special story with her. He told her that he’d come to see our show a long time ago. At the time, he was a drug addict, a drug dealer, and a gang member (and maybe some other things too – I can’t remember exactly). He said that our show changed his life. He’s now actively involved in church and has abandoned all of the old, destructive things he used to do. To me, and to my family, this is the greatest gratitude rock of all – the opportunity to use our talents to help transform lives. Of course, we know it’s not us who do the transforming. We’re just instruments.

How grateful we are during this Christmas season for the Babe of Bethlehem who makes all of our blessings possible and gives purpose to our lives. He is the reason we sing and the reason we are able to make any kind of difference in the world. He is the real Rock for which we should express all our gratitude. We hope your Christmas season is full of joy and meaning and that 2011 is your best year yet. If you’ve got gratitude rocks to get rid of, then do it. It’s a great weight loss program. Merry Christmas y’all!

It’s Thanksgiving time again and we all have so much to be grateful for. I, for one, am grateful for family traditions and family recipes that bring us together and cause us to spend quality time with one another during the holiday season. As usual, this Thanksgiving Day will see my mom and I in the kitchen (with our wonderful extended family and friends) whipping up some special Brett Family dishes. For this blog post I thought I’d share two of my favorite recipes. They are both extra yummy cranberry dishes that are quite easy to make. Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I do! Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!

P.S. We’re always looking for new Thanksgiving recipes. If you have any personal favorites you’d like to contribute just leave the recipe in the comments below.

Cranberry Salad - from Grandma Christensen
1 lb. package cranberries, washed and chopped
1 c. sugar
2 c. grated apples
1 large can crushed pineapple, well drained
1 package mini marshmallows
1 c. pecans (optional)
2 c. whipping cream

Let cranberries set in sugar for a few minutes.  Add all ingredients except cream.  Set in refrigerator until marshmallows have soaked in juices.  Add 1 c. whipping cream.  Just before serving, fold in second cup whipping cream.

Cranberry Salad

Cranberry Cake with Butter Sauce - from Andrea Brett via good friend, Renee Norton

Combine:
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt

Stir in:
1 c. milk
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 bag cranberries

Pour in greased, floured 9×9 round pan.  Bake 25-30 minutes at 350.

Serve warm with this sauce:
1 stick butter
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. cream

Cook over medium heat until melted and slightly thick.  (Beware: The butter sauce is so good, you may be tempted to drink it!)

I’m an uncle. Uncle Brydon. When Ivan Thomas Perkins was born to my sister and her husband, Merrill, I had a rush of thoughts and feelings. I first wanted the doctors to check to see if Ivan had a concussion. Why? Well, Briahna didn’t miss a show during her pregnancy and Ivan was just rolling around in there like a little hamster for nine months.  So I figured the chances were high. He was fine.

My next thought was, “That kid’s going to need a helmet if I’m ever going to hold him.” I’m not the best with kids ya’ know. Parenthetically, many people wonder if I was dropped on my head as a child. No I wasn’t, but it sure would save me a lot of explanation time every day. “Brydon, why did you wear flippers and a 90-gallon foam cowboy hat during How Great Thou Art today?” “Oh, my dad dropped me on my head when I was a child.” Next topic.

My most poignant thoughts were not, however, about the helmet Ivan might need to protect him from his uncle’s clumsiness, or about dirty diapers (I had that concern as soon as I heard Briahna was getting married), or even about the wonder of new life. No, my deepest thoughts were thoughts of responsibility.

I felt a deep sense of responsibility as I looked at that little dude. I realized that he’s going to be watching me, taking his cues from me, learning from me. I realized I would need to watch even more carefully the things I say and do. I realized that he has been born into a great world, but a rough world. There are a lot of winds and turns, bumps and valleys. And I have the responsibility to help him, to impart what I know, to encourage, and to be a good example. This is a sobering thought.

We all could use a little Ivan in our lives to remind us of our duty to the rising generation. True, they are our future, but right now we represent their future. They look up to us. They will emulate us. They will build on our shoulders. What messages are you sending? What wisdom are you imparting? We all have something to contribute to a young life, and even though they may give you the glazed over stare of a teenager or a two-month old baby, they’re listening. They’re watching. They’re learning.

I recently attended a customer service training called “Give ‘Em the Pickle.” It was all about giving your customer what they want. Well, Ivan and the rest of the rising generation need (and want) strength and fortification to be protected from falling on their heads in a crazy world. We can give them this protective head gear every day by modeling, leading, and teaching. So, I say “Give ‘em the helmet.” And do it every day. They’re gonna’ need it.

This morning I had the wonderful opportunity to recite my poem, “I am a Veteran” at the Memorial Day ceremonies held at the Springfield National Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri.  There were about 1000 people there, mostly veterans and their families.  It was such an honor to be in their presence and to feel the spirit of patriotism there.  I was moved as a flag from each branch of the armed forces was posted.  I got chills during the canon salute and when all in the audience stood for the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem.  I couldn’t hold back the tears when, in conclusion, an older gentleman from VFW Post 963 stood with his bugle and quietly played Taps.

It was General George S. Patton who said, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.”  I, for one, thank God that such men lived, and I am so grateful that I had the chance this morning to reflect on their great sacrifice. On this special day I thought it would be appropriate to share the background story behind my poem.  I have never shared this publicly, but perhaps it (along with the video) will communicate a little of why this day means so much to me.

Wishing you a happy Memorial Day,
Andrea Brett

P.S.  At 10:00 a.m. this Saturday, June 5, at Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater, we are offering a special performance of our full 2010 show for only $10.  The proceeds of this show will go to benefit ProNet International Gifts and Scholarships, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to raising scholarship money for veterans and their families.  Seating is general admission and tickets are available at the door.  If you would like to learn more about this wonderful cause, visit www.provets.org.

“I am a Veteran”
Poem Background Notes
By Andrea C. Brett

One of the greatest privileges our family has enjoyed since we began performing in Branson, Missouri is meeting the veterans who come to our show every single day.  As I have spoken with many of these men and women over the years, I have discovered time and time again that some of the most amazing and inspiring stories of sacrifice and service to our country come from the most common people.  Without their uniform to distinguish them from everyone else in the crowd, they look just like you and I.   They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, and backgrounds, yet they share one very important bond – military service to the greatest country on earth.  Behind each of their faces and in each of their hearts is a story that most likely has gone untold or unheralded.  Most of them believe that their contribution was small – just part of their duty – but it is these individual efforts that have combined into a mighty force for freedom.  These stories, in combination, make up the bigger story of America itself – a story of courage, sacrifice, faith, honor, love, and the commitment to preserve and protect Her precious liberties.

The poem “I am a Veteran” was written to pay tribute to those who have written this story.  Each line or phrase in the poem is the voice of one of these men or women; each represents an actual person that I have met or have been told about.  The poem is not about one veteran, but each and all.  The words represent only a sampling of the diverse experiences of our veterans – it would be impossible to cover them all – therefore, it is intended  more to symbolize the sacrifice of all veterans and to honor them for the service they each performed.

The poem was also written to cause anyone who reads or hears it to become more aware of each man or woman they encounter in their everyday comings and goings.  Maybe he or she is a veteran.  Maybe he or she had a part in securing my freedoms.  Maybe this “common” person has performed uncommon service in my behalf.  If so, the ground we share in our daily walk is truly sacred ground.

I have been told by many veterans that my poem has given them a voice.  This is the highest compliment I could possibly receive.  It is an honor to speak for any of these noble men and women who have given so much.  It is with deepest gratitude and humility that I offer “I am a Veteran” as my gift to these great Americans.

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