A Special Day to Thoroughly Remember. . .

Today they got up early. To get ready to be remembered and to remember.

But the average middle-school kid polled said that Memorial Day is the day when the pool opens and school closes. It's for shopping. Big sales, you know. It's for welcoming summer.

When folks say to me have a Happy Holiday. A Happy Holiday? I think. For Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is sad. It is hard reality. Cold truth. Tears for loved ones who gave themselves for this country. It is somber. It's about fighting and struggle.

Please review this photo journey:

http://picasaweb.google.com/chromecowgirl/MemorialDay

Then click on "slide show" - it's best to see it that way if you wish.

"Do non Veterans recognize the significance of Memorial Day?" This rhetorical question was pondered during a service today that I heard on NPR. "It is our job to keep it in their attention span."

I went to a service here in Nashville. It was poorly attended. Though there was quite a number of folks there before I arrived, still, it was poorly attended. There were a sea of seniors, with tears in their eyes. There were families. Some camped out at the gravestone of their soldier. It is another world to be at the veterans cemetary.

If this is a Holiday, then it should be observed the way Easter or Christmas is savored. There are no big stores open on that day. Just as Jesus was born and died and we remember, let us remember who gave their lives so that we can have life.

A note to me from my Aunt Olive, New Yorker born and bred:

Thanks for the great pictures. It isn't often you see WAVES any more. Like the men, we are losing many of the best ones. I was sad on Memorial Day because I could hear the taps and the guns from my house. I love the parades. We used to watch the parades from our window in Brooklyn. They were big stuff in those days. Now it seems like it is a dying art. Sometimes the Veterans bring tears to my eyes. They gave up a lot. Some were only teenagers when they left home. I was stationed at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland and saw many wounded sailors and marines. Their spirits were always great. No matter what they always had a kind word. I sometimes wonder where they are today. Oh well, just reminiscing!!!! Hope all is well, Love Aunt Olive

God bless you, treasured souls who have passed and served this country. God bless you, treasured souls who have served and are serving now. U R LOVED.

Thank you so much for giving and sacrificing...

To my Rolling Thunder friends, I missed you this year. Bravo on a successful record attendance for the 20th annual.

-Sasha