On the first day of Giving
My true love gave to me
A letter about a very special House
And it said you can bring your spouse

On the second day of Giving
My true love gave to me
The story of folks that worked on House remodel
And I exclaimed… it’s a Community ‘Barn Raising’ model

On the third day of Giving
My true love gave to me
The reason veterans did a lot of labor
And I understood… for their Heroes’ Families… it mattered

On the fourth day of Giving
My true love gave to me
A list of names of our family we would see soon
And I started singing an old family tune

On the fifth day of Giving
My true love gave to me
Airline tickets to Seattle on Sunday
And a van drove us to the House where we would stay until Friday

On the sixth day of Giving
My true love gave to me
My first sight of Captain Joseph House in the moonlight
And it felt like… well it just felt right

On the seventh day of Giving
My true love gave to me
A big warm welcome and hug from Betsy
And a Gold Star Mom just like me, Hi my name is Jesse

On the eighth day of Giving
My true love gave to me
The time to talk to other Families staying at the House
And share pictures and memories of our loved ones lost

On the ninth day of Giving
My true love gave to me
A few days with my family to explore together
And the magnificent Olympic Peninsula during fair weather

 On the tenth day of Giving
My true love gave to me
The weather forecast which called for rain
And the kids had a plan… swimming, ping-pong and games, oh man!

On the eleventh day of Giving
My true love gave to me
The menu three Families would together cook for dinner
And all sixteen of us declared our group meal the winner

On the twelfth day of Giving
My true love gave to me
A scrapbook of memories and new friends that understood
AND TOGETHER
Our tears dried a bit
We celebrated the lives of our loved ones lost
We said goodbye to the two other Families but not farewell
We  reached out to other Gold Star Families
Sharing the memories, bringing comfort and Never Forgetting

“Because Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Means Caring for Their Loved Ones Left Behind”,
Betsy Schultz, Gold Star Mother and Executive Director
Captain Joseph House Foundation