Happy Memorial Day: Bigelow Tea & Kelly Strong

Bigelow Tea is dear to my heart because this quality tea is grown in the only tea garden in the United States, my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. A couple of years ago, Bigelow Tea sent over 100,000 boxes of tea for our troops primarily distributed through the USO. Thank you Bigelow for honoring our service men and women, while honoring the memory of our fallen heroes. You are an American Classic!

To the men and women who served our country and lost their lives, we salute you and your family, and remember you not only on this day, but everyday with gratitude. Thank you for helping us maintain the freedom(s) that we often take for granted in the U.S.

"Freedom Is Not Free"
By Kelly Strong

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

Here's to a glass of tea and a slice of poetry!
Happy Memorial Day!

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