11/11/2025
There are seasons in life where you think you’re the one showing up to serve — and then God reveals that you were the one in need of being restored.
When I started helping with the VFW dinners at the Hubbell VFW Post 4624, I believed I was simply offering my time, my hands, my heart.
But what I found there was something I didn’t even realize I had been missing:
Belonging.
Frank, you always made sure I was welcomed — truly welcomed.
You’d hand me those menus signed by the cadets or the speakers like it was a small thing, but it wasn’t.
Those moments mattered.
They reminded me of purpose.
They reminded me of community.
They reminded me that I still had a place in this world.
Cooking those dinners…
Hearing laughter echo off the hall walls…
Watching the cadets come in young and unsure, then grow into themselves year by year…
Seeing familiar faces every single time — people who didn’t just tolerate me being there, but were glad I walked in the door…
I thought I was showing up to serve them.
But they were the ones pouring back into me.
They loved me in a way I hadn’t felt since coming back to the U.P.
Quietly.
Consistently.
Without needing anything from me in return.
That kind of love doesn’t need to be spoken — you just feel it.
It is the Veteran who teaches courage without speeches.
It is the Veteran who teaches loyalty without bragging.
It is the Veteran who teaches resilience without pity.
Not in words — in how they stand, how they carry memory, how they keep showing up.
I still love this country — fiercely.
Not because it is perfect, but because men and women have paid for freedom with their bodies, their time, their futures, and in some cases, their lives.
Freedom is not free — and neither is healing.
Both are paid for in sacrifice.
To the Veterans who served, who are serving, and who are still fighting battles no one sees:
Thank you.
From the deepest part of my heart — thank you.
And to my Hubbell Post 4624 family — especially you, Frank:
Thank you for loving me in a season when I didn’t even know how much I needed it.
You will always have a place in my story.
God bless you.
And God bless the United States of America. 🇺🇸
~ Shannon Greathouse
