“God bless America, indeed,” said Brent Braxton in a proud, patriotic tone.
“Amen to that, my darling lieutenant,” said his wife Janet Braxton, matching his tone as only she could.
“Hey, we’re not in the marines anymore. You don’t have to keep calling me lieutenant.”
“I know, but it’s not my fault you love it so damn much.”
“Point taken,” the former marine.
They shared a good laugh and a glowing smile. Brent gladly raised his half-empty beer bottle to the cloudless night sky. His beautiful wife of four years did the same, tapping her bottle with his. It capped off what had been an eventful 4th of July thus far and for a couple of veterans who’d met on a military base, that carried greater meaning.
They’d both taken very different paths to get to this moment. Brent was born in the United States, but his parents were immigrants who barely spoke English when they first arrived. Conversely, Janet came from several generations of red-blooded Americans who could trace their lineage back to the Revolutionary War. He joined the marines after losing out on a college scholarship. Janet joined because enlisting in the military was practically a rite of passage for her family. Logistically speaking, their paths never should’ve crossed.