Tips to Honor a Military Veteran with Coffee Moments

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.  #CMSalutingHeroes #CollectiveBias

I have a military veteran in my family who is very important to me…my daddy. And, yes, I’m 28 years old and still call him that. Maybe it’s a southern thing? But, with July 4^th around the corner, I thought it would be fun to sit down and honor him by sharing some memories of his time in the navy with some special coffee moments and a brunch.

To make it a special occasion, I kept it simple but included a few snacks with our coffee. I had some mixed berries (love the patriotic colors!), deviled eggs, and of course coffee with some Coffee-mate Vanilla (which is always my guilty pleasure in coffee). Luckily, the bottle was already dressed up for me so it fit in well with the theme. (Bonus!  Coffee-mate is donating to a fantastic organization called Operation Homefront. This organization helps provide assistance to wounded military members and their families too!

I asked my dad to pull out his old picture books from the military so I could look through them. Look at that handsome devil in the picture below (George Mackey)!

My dad recounted some of his navy tales to me and the rest of our family. It’s always so interesting to hear about. My dad joined the navy during the Vietnam War in 1971. He was an electrician’s mate on a destroyer for a short time and spent a lot of time on a salvage and rescue ship.

He went all over the world including Monaco, Vietnam, Greece, Hawaii, in the arctic, Spain, Sicily, Italy and his home port was out of Mayport, Florida! When I asked him about one of his favorite memories, he said it would have to be Christmas in Athens, Greece. He said the lights and décor were beautiful from the water on the boat and it was so neat to see the Parthenon all lit up by the city lights.

Some of his favorite places he visited were Greece or Monaco. He said in the navy he was forced to mature quickly and take care of himself. My dad loves his country and I’m so thankful for veterans like him and others who are still serving our country that allow us to be free.

I would encourage you to have a coffee moment with someone you know and love that is in the military to make them feel special. Or maybe you even do something like this for men and women in nursing homes who are veterans. That would be such a treat to them!

If you want to pick up this specially labeled Coffee-mate bottle, you can find it at Walmart until July 4th while supplies last next to the other creamers. Come up with your own food choices or just copy mine. 😉 We had lots of fun and I always love hearing my dad’s stories.  God bless the USA!