My Uncle Mike flew in this past Friday. He is my Mom's older brother who lives in Phoenix and it is his wife Gail who taught me lampworking in her garage studio so many years ago. Since I was a little girl, I remember flying out there to spend a week or two every summer (yay for having a Dad who worked for Delta and had flight privileges!). The weekend went quickly while he was here, before a jet whisked him back to the heat of the desert this morning. We enjoyed spending the afternoons/evenings with him, as well as the delicious salad he made last night to go along with my Dad's savory barbecue ribs. This picture of Mike with my Grandma is several months old (I was negligent with my camera this weekend & hope he will email me pics), but as I look at it I can see the similarities in facial features on my Mom's side. It makes me wonder how different I will look when I am in my 50s or 60s or 90s.
Today was a day of relaxation. We spent several hours hanging out with friends and neighbors in the street/sidewalk while our children played baseball, kickball, pokemon trading and sandbox digging this morning. My good friend Wendy came over shortly after naptime and we enjoyed melting glass throughout the afternoon while it rained on and off. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the backyard of another neighbor while our kids played in a few blow-up swimming pools, water slides and video games in the cool of an open basement.
Todd and I were talking about the significance of this holiday over dinner with our children. I remembered how both of my grandfathers fought in World War II. I don't know anything about my Dad's Dad or where he was during the war. But my Mom's Dad was a scout, among other positions and traveled throughout Europe...mainly in Germany. He stood inside the Eagle's Nest, looking out over the landscape through blown out windows and he brought back a parchment paper declaring Hitler the Chancellor of some little village in Germany. My Grandpa talked fondly about many of his experiences, but saved the haunting and gruesome memories for himself and sometimes the other men in the family. He fought for the freedoms of our country and for the end of a horrid dictatorship.
We also talked about our most memorable Memorial Day that was close to five years ago when we drove up to DC to visit my good friend Mary and her family. Her Dad, Henry achieved the rank of Colonel before retiring from the army in the last couple of years. Henry and Mary's mom Kathy drove us around downtown DC on the Sunday night before Memorial Day. We saw the Vietnam Memorial (oh-so-humbling), the Lincoln Memorial and had our own private tour through the Pentagon where Henry worked at the time. We saw where Henry's office had been when one of the planes struck the Pentagon on 9/11 and how fortunate he was to have been on the other side of the building that morning. We saw the pressroom where Rumsfeld regularly held new conferences.
And we thought about all that had been given up by so many of our service men and women over the years. The husbands of some of our good friends and our family who serve to protect our country, our rights and our freedoms. They have missed the births of their sons and been rolled over by tanks. They have been wounded and had their wills tested. Their families have been tested. But they have stayed true and voluntarily continued their service to our country.
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Thank you to all of our veterans who gave so much and to our current service men and women who continue to give.
