The suicide bombing which took place at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 26 August 2021, days prior to America’s withdrawal from the country, left the entire nation mourning for the loss of the 13 soldiers who died in the attack. 160 Afghan people were killed as well.

Today, a month after the tragedy took place, American people are still grieving the heroes and each and every one of us is paying their tributes the best we can. And although no words can ever comfort the families of the fallen troopers, at least they all know that we will never forget that their loved ones died heroes who sacrificed it all for their country.

Recently, a video of a pilot dedicating what is described as his last flight to the 13 fallen soldiers emerged online. It was posted by Facebook user Ryan Fournier, the founder of Students for Trump, but it is believed that it was initially uploaded on TikTok by @roballnic1.

Some doubt the credibility of the video because there isn’t any information about the person who took it, who the pilot is or when it was taken. However, many say that the lack of details doesn’t make it fake.

At the beginning of the video, the pilot could be heard saying, “We’re heading down to Houston, it should take us two hours and 27 minutes. The weather’s good, weather’s good, the ride should be good.”

As he’s speaking, he’s holding a tablet showing photos of the soldiers who lost their lives in the Kabul bombing.

“I’ve got six more days left here at Southwest Airlines, I have to retire because I’m 65 years old,” he continues. “I’ll keep flying. And every time I fly now, I want to dedicate our flight and my trip to the 13 senseless losses of soldiers, sailors, Marines.”

“Everybody, just remember them,” he adds. “And I don’t care who you hated or who you liked in the last election. What happened was just wrong.”

He ends his speech saying, “We’ll get going. Smiles, everybody. And … remember the 13.”

It’s not clear why the pilot announces his retirement to the passengers and later adds that he’ll continue flying.

One the most challenging sacrifices our service men and women make is being apart – sometimes separated by thousands of miles – from their families.

Husbands miss wives, fathers and mothers miss children, sons miss parents and siblings … it can be a tough turn of events for even the hardiest of souls.

What’s more, it’s not just wishing you were with someone that’s the issue. Service men and women often have to skip milestone days in the lives of those they love; weddings, funerals, even, sometimes, births.

The latter was likely playing on Skyler Cooper’s mind when he spent seven months serving in Kuwait as a member of the Kansas Army National Guard. His wife Cydney was pregnant at the time, and with two young sons, Leighton and Corbett, to look after, the stress was mounting …

You see, Cydney was pregnant with twin girls. Furthermore, as per Her View From Home, she’d been expecting Skyler to come home in late spring.

Things took a turn for the unexpected, however, when she fell ill with the flu at just 33 weeks, forcing her to give birth prematurely. Babies Emma and Kyla had to remain in the NICU, but Cydney needed to go home since she had two other children to look after.

Once she did, of course, she was a very busy woman indeed, what with all the to-and-fro with the hospital.

In her words, at that point she was “hanging on by a string”

Little did she know that a welcome surprise was waiting just around the corner. One day, when sitting in hospital with one of her 2-week-old babies in her arms, she received a text from her husband asking how they were doing.

Moments later Skyler himself strode into the room, an American flag balloon and flowers in his hand.

He’d been planning the surprise for a couple of weeks, but even he couldn’t have predicted the reaction his wife would have.

As one might expect, it was emotional to say the very least. Grab the tissues and watch the video below:

Cydney told Good Morning America: “I was in shock. I felt like I had to almost take a breath again. I had been bouncing around so much between our boys and the girls, I was also relieved.”

But wait! It gets better. The parents were then able to surprise their two sons as well, and catch that on camera too:

“1000s of miles, 1 solo pregnancy and delivery, 48392 Skype calls, some superheroes, a few plane rides, 12 NICU days, tons of help from family and friends, and many tears later,” Cydney wrote on Facebook. “A soldier came home.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this family, we’re so glad you were able to hold it together through a tough time!

Please share this article to pay tribute to all the serving men and women of the United States.

When I hear the name Delta Burke, I always think of her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker on “Designing Women.”

She was the reason why I watched the show – once the production got rid of Delta, the show went downhill, in my opinion.

Only a few years after she left the popular sitcom, Delta Burke found that everything she’d been building had crashed down around her …  

Delta Burke young

Delta Burke was born in 1956 in Orlando, Florida and it was in “Sunshine State” that her career would catapult her into show business.

Delta’s childhood had its ups and downs. Her mother, Jean, was a struggling single mother before she married Frederick Burke, who adopted Delta and became like a real dad to her. Delta never met her biological father.

As a teenager, Delta excelled at school and was crowned the “Most Likely to Succeed” when she graduated from high school in 1974.

By this time, however, Delta already knew what she wanted. Acclaimed as a great beauty, she had already won several beauty pageants in the Orlando area.

Crowned ”Miss Florida”

In 1974, her life would change forever when she entered the ‘Miss Florida’ pageant and won the title. She was only 18 years old when she received the award – the youngest ever to win the title.

Becoming “Miss Florida” opened up many career opportunities for the young and beautiful Delta. But despite all the positive attention, Delta would later raise some concerns about her wellbeing.

It’s not entirely problem-free to break through as a beauty queen. Standing in the spotlight in such an appearance-fixed world is not easy. All women competing in these shows need to fit a certain standard: they should look a certain way, not weigh too much and always have a smile on their face.

A young Delta, who just wanted to be a star, didn’t reflect too much on the whole thing. But the fact was that she was developing an unhealthy obsession.

“I learned not to trust men very much and felt that my only value was in my sexuality or what I looked like,” Delta later said.

Delta Burke breakthrough

In the mid-70s, Delta started to appear in various TV series.

But it would take until 1982 before the public at large set their eyes on the aspiring actress. Delta’s big breakthrough in the entertainment industry came when she played “Kathleen Beck” in the series Filthy Rich.

The popular TV series aired between 1982 and 1983, with Delta portraying her character for 15 episodes.

In 1986, Delta then landed a lead role in the sitcom Designing Women.

The series revolved around a man and four women who work together at a designer firm in Atlanta. The series had a bumpy start, struggling to attract the right audience. But after a few years, Designing Woman ran like a well-oiled machine and became one of the highest-rated television shows in the United States.

Why Delta left ”Designing Women”

Delta’s portraying of “Susanne Sugarbaker” was the only reason many people watched that show. The beautiful, energetic Delta was awarded two Emmy nominations for her role.

“Along with her talent, Delta, 34, carries into life a reputation for fiery southern passion that is as tangible as bayou moss”

But even though Designing Woman was a success story – a lot of shady things happened behind the scenes. In 1990, Delta went public and hammered the production for letting the actors work over 15 hours a day.

”It is not a good workplace, not a good environment … It’s so strange, being part of something that’s so wonderful and so awful at the same time,” Delta Burke told The Orlando Sentinel.

There was a big rift among the actors in the sitcom – most of them sided with the bosses, and Burke got into several behind-the-scenes arguments.

Eventually, the situation became unendurable and Delta was fired from the last two seasons of the show.

Delta Burke weight loss

Delta Burke’s weight issues, meanwhile, began as teenager. To maintain the thinness required to be a beauty queen, Delta started with diets and exercises at a very early age.

It’s safe to say that her career as a beauty pageant kicked off a very complicated relationship with her own body. Already as a young woman, she was told that she should be careful about what she ate, and that diabetes ran in the family.

“I didn’t understand,” she said.

But it was when Delta starred in Designing Woman that her weight issues became serious. Viewers could see how Delta gained a lot of extra pounds – something that producers of the popular sitcom took advantage of.

In one special episode, “They Shoot Fat Women, Don’t They?”, the show addressed Delta’s weight gain when Suzanne Sugarbaker returns to a high school reunion and everyone is pretty shocked over her new figure.

According to Delta, producer Harry Thomason forced the cast to go on “extreme diets” and some have been speculated that Delta’s extra pounds were one of the reasons why she was removed from the show.

When the actress left the sitcom in 1991, her scale read 215 pounds. According to Delta, she started to gain a lot of weight during Designing Woman – all her hard work on the set also triggered type 2 diabetes.

To overcome her obesity, Delta tried different diets and was good att exercising, but nothing worked particularly well. She still had problems losing weight.

The turnaround finally came when she changed her mindset.

”I was telling myself that I was a bad person because I couldn’t lose the weight fast enough,” Delta told Eating Well and continued:

”I decided to stop beating myself up and started to give myself credit for maintaining weight.”

But her weight journey has always been a rollercoaster. The tabloids loved to taunt her as soon as she gained pounds, and Delta has encountered many setbacks over the years. In 1998, when her grandmother died, the actress began to lose a grip on her own health.

”My doctor told me I would end up on insulin if I didn’t get my blood glucose under control. That scared me enough to take action,” she said.

”I began a stringent eating program and tested my blood more often. That’s when I got better control of my blood glucose. I also lost 20 pounds, which helped a lot.”

Delta decided to take Byetta, a diabetes drug that helps lower your blood sugar after eating a meal. The pills managed to help Delta suppress her appetite and monitor her diet.

Delta Burke husband

Fortunately, Delta has always had a supportive husband by her side in actor Gerald McRaney. Delta and Gerald met in the 1980s while they were both working on different television shows.

It was love at first sight for McRaney, and he knew he had to act fast considering the admirers that this beautiful young actress had.

For more than 30 years, the couple have been there for each other through it all. One of the biggest struggles has been coping with Burke’s fluctuating weight due to her Type 2 Diabetes. Delta credits the endless support of her husband, who she thanks for helping her “bounce back.”

“He reminds me what I should be doing or shouldn’t be eating,” she told People. “He likes to give me my insulin shots and says it makes him feel like he’s taking care of me.”

Delta Burke today and net worth

Today, Delta resides in Los Angeles with her mother and her husband.

Gerald McRaney, who is a lung cancer survivor, underwent successful surgery in 2004. After his treatment, it became even more important for the couple to stay active and healthy.

 

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A post shared by Beautiful Delta Burke (@beautiful_delta_burke)

You can sometimes see them walking around together in Los Angeles – they love spending time with each other. The couple also own an antique store in Mississippi together.

“My mom’s healthy and my husband’s healthy. I feel good, and I know I’ll get better and better,” Delta says. “To me, it’s a time of celebration.”

In 2020, Delta has an estimated net worth of $3.5 million, earning most of her wealth from her work in over 60 television shows and movies.

Delta really is a classic southern bell – she and her husband make a great couple. Her joy and kindness always shined through in her performances!

Many people will do anything for their beloved pets — even if it means putting themselves in harm’s way. Time and again we’ve seen stories of everyday pet owners putting themselves in danger if it means saving their friend’s life (and pets do the same for their owners).

Like one 74-year-old woman who faced down an alligator to save her beloved golden retriever.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Suzan Marciano, from Boca Raton, Florida, was walking her dog Nalu near a lake on the evening of August 24.

After playing fetch, the two were enjoying the lake, with the golden retriever chest-deep in the water. But Suzan recalls her “heart dropped” when she saw a dark spot in the water creeping towards her dog.

It was an alligator, more than six feet long, and in an instant it had Nalu in its jaws.

Without thinking, the senior woman jumped into action to get her dog free. “I did the only thing I could do. I came down on the alligator with all my weight,” she told the Palm Beach Post.

The gator released Nalu — but soon turned its attention on Suzan, chomping down on her hand. “It was all one big blur. I was in such shock. I didn’t feel any pain,” she recalls.

Both Suzan and Nalu survived the ordeal, but both had puncture wounds that required hospital visits. Suzan received five stitches on her hand, and Nalu underwent a two-hour surgery for wounds on her stomach and thigh.

They were also both left “traumatized” by the ordeal, and Suzan says she was afraid to go back to the park for weeks: “I was still seeing the shadow with two eyes looking up from out of the water. That image kept coming back to me,” she told the Palm Beach Post.

According to the Post, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission investigated the site in response to the incident but could not find any alligators in the lake. A spokesperson said their program “proactively address alligator threats.”

What a scary incident. While both Suzan and Nalu were left with some injuries and trauma, we’re glad they both survived the ordeal. It goes to show how fearless pet owners can be when their dogs are in danger.

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Ralph and Dorothy Kohler recently celebrated a milestone very few people will ever get the chance to experience.

The Kohlers, who live in Indio, California, celebrated their 86th wedding anniversary, making them the longest married couple in the United States.

Ralph, 104, and Dorothy, 103, got married in Tekamah, Nebraska in 1935 when they were 18 and 17 years old.

The story goes that the court official denied them a marriage license because they believed the couple was too young to get married. But that court official only temporarily delayed Ralph and Dorothy as the two went elsewhere, exchanged vows and have been together ever since.

Over the years the couple has learned what works and what doesn’t work for their relationship.

Drinking and smoking don’t work, while letting their partner follow their passion does work.

“Love for one thing, and we enjoy the same thing. And if we didn’t, we accepted it,” Ralph told WOWT. “Dorothy loves ballroom dancing, and I loved shooting clay targets. I joined her with ballroom dancing, and she joined me with trap shooting.”

The current record for the world’s longest marriage is held by Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher of the United States. They were married for 86 years and 290 days when Herbert died on February 27, 2011.

Congratulations Ralph and Dorothy!

Please share and send your congratulations to the couple.

Two young toddlers tragically lost their lives after they spent more than nine grueling hours trapped in the backseat of their father’s car.

The little boys named Brycen and Brayden McDaniel were meant to be dropped off at daycare on the ill-fated day of September 1, 2021. But their father forgot to drop them off and left them in the backseat before going to work.

It was reported that the father was under a lot of stress at work at the time of the incident. That day, he was so distracted that he thought he had dropped off the 20-month-old twins at their daycare in Blythewood, South Carolina.

Unfortunately, with the twins still inside the car, the father reported for duty at a manufacturing plant in the same area and carried on with his day as usual.

Once his shift was over, the father went to the Sunshine House Early Learning Academy to pick up his boys, according to ABC News. However, when he asked the daycare staff about the twins, he was told that Brycen and Brayden had not been dropped off that day.

The father then rushed out to his car and found his dead twins, still strapped in their car seats under the late afternoon sun. The twins were left all by themselves for about nine hours on the sweltering hot day; they died of hyperthermia or heat stroke after temperatures in the SUV rose up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius).

Richland County Sheriff, Leon Lott, said he later spoke to the twins’ father and had the most heartbreaking interview since joining the police force 46 years ago.

“He didn’t mean to do it. God, he didn’t mean to do it. He’s got to live with that the rest of his life,” Lott said at a news conference.

Explaining how the father was preoccupied that day, Lott added: “The father was under some intense pressure at work that really had his mind somewhere else that day. In his mind, he really believed he dropped the two boys off at daycare.”

The interview with the father was “one of the [most] heart-wrenching interviews you ever had to see,” Lott admitted, as quoted by PEOPLE. “The pure emotion that came out was not something you could fake.”

Following the unfortunate and avoidable death of Brycen and Brayden, coroner Naida Rutherford stressed on ways to prevent such incidents. One way to remind parents that their children are still in the backseat is by leaving their diaper bag or some stuffed animal in the front seat.

“We urge each parent there are so many stressors with Covid 19, with the world-changing to look in the backseat,” Rutherford said, as quoted by WMBF. “Make sure you dropped off the children. For every child care center, baby center, we urge you if the child does not show up to call the family. It could save a life.”

In the case of twins Brycen and Brayden, their father did not have any charges pressed against him.

An obituary for both Brycen and Brayden was posted on the Bostick-Tompkins Funeral Home. The message celebrated the twins’ memory and said: “They were fun-loving little boys, with smiles that could light up an entire room. They enjoyed laughing, giving wet kisses, singing, listening to their Daddy and PaPa play jazzy tunes on the saxophone, and dancing to music from Earth, Wind and Fire and Frankie Beverly and Maze. Yes, they were wise way beyond their years.”

Family and friends of Jelani Day, a graduate student who has been missing since August 24, are hoping that the country’s fascination with Gabby Petito will spark an interest in Jelani’s case and help bring him home.

“What I want them to do, is to realize that Jelani is everybody, so he could be your brother, he could be your cousin, he could be your nephew, he could be a grandson. And you want somebody to look for him or somebody to find him, and that’s all I want. I want my son,” Jelani’s mom, Carmen Bolden Day, said.

The 25-year-old has been missing for nearly a month.

Day, a graduate student at Illinois State University, was last seen on August 24 at 9:12 a.m, according to a missing person report from the Bloomington Police Department.

His family reported him missing the following day after multiple attempts to contact him were unsuccessful. His professors at school also became concerned after he did not report to class.

On August 24, he was seen on surveillance entering a store called Beyond/Hello in Bloomington wearing a blue Detroit Lions hat, a black t-shirt, white shorts, and black shoes. His vehicle was spotted in the parking lot.

However, two days later police located Day’s vehicle in Peru, Illinois along with his clothes inside.

After police located Jelani’s vehicle in a “wooded area,” an extensive search both on the ground and in the air began, but they were unable to locate the 25-year-old.

According to reports, a body was found in the Illinois River on September 5 in the same city where Jelani’s car was located. However, the coroner said it coroner said it could take days or weeks until the body was identified.

At this time, investigators believe they are two separate cases.

It’s been weeks and no one has heard from Jelani.

His mother hopes that now so many have become interested in solving Gabby Petito’s case, some will also take interest in her son.

“Jelani is a sweetheart … I shouldn’t have to beg. I shouldn’t have to plead. I shouldn’t have to feel that there is a racial disparity, I shouldn’t have to feel anything like that, I want these people that have these resources to realize this this could happen to them,” she said.

She’s also asking for the FBI to become involved.

“It was just proven with the Gabby Petito case. She was missing, the FBI got involved, she was found within 3-4 days. Can I have the same help is all I’m asking.”

The Bloomington police are also asking the public for help.

If you have any information you are asked to contact the police at 309-434-2548.

There are countless people who are missing and who go missing every single day. Each one of them deserves the same amount of attention we gave Gabby.

Let’s bring Jelani home.

Please share this on Facebook and so we can find Jelani.

5-year-old Zoey Catherine Daggett was a child who loved to play, just like any other girl her age.

But two years ago, Zoey sadly passed away after a two year battle with cancer.

Her parents are mourning their beloved daughter, and received support from all over the world — after spreading photos of her last moments on earth on Facebook.

Zoey was only three years old when she was diagnosed with cancer.

She grew up in a loving family and before the cancer hit, she was full of energy and always in motion, just like so many other children. She was sweet, playful, and happy.

But one day in July 2016, everything changed. The little girl from Fairport, New York, fell while playing in the park. Her parents Caseby and Ben took her to the doctor because their daughter limped. They expected a fractured ankle at worst, but the doctor couldn’t find anything on the X-ray.

A couple of weeks later, she lost power in both hands, according to CBS8.

Her parents began to get seriously worried and realized something was wrong with Zoey, so they took her straight to the hospital. And what the doctors found on their daughter was a shock to everyone.

When they arrived, they heard something they will never forget, a message they will carry in their souls forever. The doctor told them that their beloved little daughter, so full of life and love, had DIPG — a rare and aggressive brain tumor.

Unfortunately, the survival rate for DIPG remains very low. At this time there is no cure for this tumor. Children are giving 6-18 months from diagnosis to live; typically.

”We didn’t know what to do, where to go. We were told it’s pretty much a death sentence,” mother Casey told Daily Mail.

The family would suffer a tragedy and nightmare one would never wish on their worst enemy. But for Zoey’s sake, they kept themselves together and tried to be strong.

Over the following two years, Zoey would go through several treatments for her cancer.

Throughout it all she smiled, laughed and wanted to experience everything in life, according to her family.

The family found a clinic in Germany where Zoey responded well to a radiation treatment. A friend of the family organized a fundraiser – and managed to raise $ 46,875 in no time.

But after a while she stopped responding.

She began to feel worse, faster. The unthinkable was about to happen. On July 4, 2018, Zoey left this world peacefully in her home in the United States.

While her imminent death was naturally devastating for the family, her parents realized shortly before it occurred that they could share some precious final moments together.

Up until her final minutes, Zoey continued to spread joy. Her parents asked all relatives and friends to come home to them and see her before it was too late.

Now, her mother has bravely decided to share the family’s last moment together on Facebook.

“I shared it because even though it’s a painful moment, it’s a beautiful moment in our eyes,” Casey told Daily Mail.

The picture shows mom and dad with their arms around their precious daughter. They’d sat down on the couch with the family’s dog.

They’d spent the day to singing Disney songs. A Harry Potter movie played on television. And amidst the peace, the calmness, Zoey was suddenly gone. After about half the movie, Zoey’s heart stopped beating.

”I had seen a handful of families sharing moments and originally I didn’t think I was going to share it. ‘But I thought: “I want a photo like that taken”. I want those moments captured so I can remember them forever even when my brain is gone,” she told Daily Mail.

On the Facebook page Zoey’s Light, the family now wants to spread the hope and light that Zoey gave the world all those years before her death.

They want Zoey to inspire others to help each other, and to love each other fully, gratefully — one ordinary day at a time.

No mother or father should ever go through what Caseby and Ben had to go through. The only consolation is that Zoey knew during her last hours that she was loved and will never be forgotten.

Cancer is really the worst thing I can think of. Especially when it targets children. 

Zoey’s story is such a reminder to use all your days as if they were the last. To love like there is no tomorrow. 

Rest in peace, sweet Zoey.