Anna M. Aquino

              I’ve had a bit of a rant brewing regarding America and politics for the last few months so instead of continuing to ignore I thought I’d share.   Excuse me while I stand up on my soapbox.               *AHEM* Taking the Microphone and clearing my throat.... (Grin.)             I love this country.   If you know me personally, you’ll know I’m pretty opinionated over politics and where this country is.   I have often said that for many years my identity in Christ and my identity as an American were seemingly tightly woven together though it was hard to see one without the other.   It’s only been within the last few years that I’ve had to learn to identify them separately. I was raised to love God, and love my country.   As the Daughter of a Vietnam Veteran, wh...

  Twelve years ago my parents, my oldest daughter (then an infant) and I were in a hotel room in Cocoa Beach, FL.   My mom and I had walked down to get breakfast, and when the spunky petite waitress announced that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.    It hadn’t occurred to me that America and our world was forever changed.   Honestly we didn’t understand the severity of what happened.   My mom and I finished out breakfast, and found my dad outside.   Together we made our way back to the room, and stayed there glued to the TV starring in horror for the better part of the day.   I was watching Tom Browkaw try to hold it together as the first tower fell, and then the second.   I watched in horror as we realized the Pentagon had been flown into and as the plane on the field was discovered.   Being there in that moment only minutes down the road from an Air Force Base, with my father who was a grunt soldier in Vietnam, wa...