While at the post office I needed to buy a bulk amount of stamps for the AWP. I ask the lady if she can show me what designs they have available. She asked me if it was for a wedding or shower, “No,” I replied.

She pulls out a Frank Sinatra set, another she had nearby, as well as the Purple Heart stamps. 

“Do you have anything else patriotic, like the American flag or red, white and blue?”

” Well, uhh, I don’t think it gets more patriotic then the Purple Flag Stamp” she replies rudely. 

“I know, my husband has one.” As I went on to look at the different designs, trying and hoping not to have to explain.

“Well, isn’t he pretty young to have one of those?” She stated…almost insinuating that I was lying.

Here it goes…I have no other choice….she had to ask….

“Well, he was killed and unluckily most who have received them are young.”

“What? So was he killed, like, uhhh, in Iraq?”

“Yes.”

“I only see old men in old cadillacs with those on their license plates.” She replied.

I spent the next ten minutes explaining more to her about military widows and their heroes. Though there was an ounce of me that wanted to just walk out and never walk back into that post office again, I knew that if I hid and never went back I’d be caving into my own emotions. Never allowing others to be awakened to a certain group’s realities.

I ended up leaving with a beautiful roll of different American Flag variation stamps and more and satisfaction in knowing that one person, at the Buda, Texas USPS, understands the daily sacrifices being made and one of many military widows those living to carry on their legacy and create a life from the rubble.

Also….there are currently 60 different stamp designs to choose from.

Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope.
~Author Unknown