Everything's Quiet on Memorial Day

So I arose early and met Norman for a fine catch up with life breakfast at LOL. He was headed into the office afterwards -- I headed home, to spend a quiet morning awaiting the arrival of D2.  Big Man and AA willing, she's due in around 2:30, and I plan to fetch her with the special needs Spaniel Bo in tow.  We get her for an entire week, and that makes me happy.

But it's Memorial Day, and I'm reflecting on all of those who died so we can have this amazing life. Fortunately, no one in my family or close circle merits mention today. My Dad served over four years during WW II, but thankfully emerged very much alive, to start our family in The Bronx. My brother in law Dennis served in the USAF during Vietnam, but was always safely away from the line of fire. These two are honored on Veteran's Day -- Memorial Day is for the war dead.

I vaguely remember, during the 60s, a neighborhood family mourning the loss of a Vietnam vet son who was shipped home. It was a big deal -- a friend of my parents' friend, I think.

My only close connection to the military are my friends John and Kenny -- John was a USAF fighter pilot during peace time, and Kenny a flight surgeon in the Navy. Kenny actually was, technically, in battle -- he served on the USS Saratoga during the Gulf War. His patients included the fellow shot down during the war.  But, thankfully, Kenny's closest calls came during leave in Majorca and Cartegena, and were not military related...

I still think of what it must be like to lose someone.  It'll become more personal in less than two weeks -- we land in Paris, and then rent a car to drive to Normandy. We have some tours arranged -- Band of Brothers-type things, and will walk upon the hallowed ground of the D Day Invasion.  But for the grace of the Big Man, my Dad could have been there. He had a closer call late in the War  --due to be shipped to the Battle of the Bulge, where he almost certainly wouldn't have returned. Thankfully, the intervention of a Landsman colonel sent him back to California instead.

I find I can no longer tolerate listening to the president at all. If I'm channel surfing, and he's on, I change the channel as quickly as I used to as a kid when I came upon a soap opera. He's a draft dodger, and stands on a podium talking about leading the military. It's insulting. Sadly, many in the military seem to be ok with him. I don't get it at all.

So I'm most thankful today for the sacrifices of those who died for us. A catchy FaceBook (tm) post said "You may not know them all, but you owe them all."  It's true.

I never forget I'm just a few generations removed from a people living in Eastern Europe, scared of the pogroms of the Czar.  I never knew my great grandparents, but I know they had a dream -- someday their kids' kids' kids might live as we do now.  And I'm thankful for the sacrifice of those who allowed it to be.