Memorial

I really like Memorial Day.  I actually feel much more patriotic on this day than I do even on Independence Day.  Maybe because there are a lot more distractions on the 4th of July.  I am easily diverted by fireworks.  But there's no such hoopla on Memorial Day.  There are just a lot of flags and stories of heroism and airings of Band of Brothers, which I get sucked into every single time despite my distaste for movies with people getting blown up.  And there's a war going on - which breaks me up. I mean, really. My mom and I made the mistake of watching 60 Minutes last night and there was story after story of men coming home from war broken and some not coming home at all.  And oh how we wept. We then followed it up with the Memorial Day concert that airs every year on PBS and we cried some more.  This is our Memorial Day tradition.  We cry.  And then the next day we eat homemade boysenberry ice cream.  Sweet land of liberty!

I don't know a single person who has died in war.  I feel very blessed for that.  But my grandpa, who flew in a B-17 crew, would sometimes tell the story of being on a mission over Germany during World War II  and watching a plane full of his friends get shot down. Can you imagine? I marvel at his life and how he fought and lived and now I get to live.  It makes me want to march around with a flag and a bugle while shouting at the top of my lungs, "We're really, really lucky, people!"