Memorial Day….

When you are a military family, have family members in the military, or friends in the military you know that this holiday is more than just a day off for grilling up burgers and dogs. Have you ever seen what an American flag looks like through NVGs? NVG’s you ask? The above picture was taken through my husbands Night Vision Goggles in Afghanistan on July 4th, 2010. When we were celebrating our independence at the local fair and thinking about fire crackers he was working.

I spent the Memorial Day long weekend at the beach with my husband,LB and close friends. While we were having a good time the reason for our long weekend was not forgotten. A sobering conversation took place  at the dinner table when The Hubs explained to LB just what Memorial Day is all about. He explained about those who did not make it home, those who gave their lives for our country and our freedom, those who stood beside my husband and his friends.  Each man at the table, 6 of them, knew all to well what this day was about. Our friends, their “brothers”.  It is hard to put into words... I actually can’t put into words what it was like listening to that conversation and looking at each of their faces. Each one of them has their own story, if they were to tell it, of a friend (or two or three….or more) who will not be forgotten.  It is a hard lesson that not many 5 year olds learn or even think about. But LB understood.  For us, it is a reality that a goodbye kiss and hug could be the last…

In The Hub’s own words, he writes:

“The wars of our generation have effected and changed us all in different ways. Our parents compare them to the wars of past. For our children, the innocence of a world without war does not exist.

Isolated by oceans, protected by money and insulated by technology, most Americans have little concept of, or connection to, the warriors that fight for us in faraway lands.

Yet for those of us that have gone and continue to go to battle, and for our families that support us as we come and go, life is no guarantee. We have all lost friends and brothers. At times we hear about it long after the fact. At times they die in our arms.

Every day we remember them. Today we honor them.

In memory: Eric Caban, Dave Textor, Jeremy Bessa, Andrew Loboscoe, Jack Martin, Frank, Joseph Johnson, Gunnar Hotchkin, and so many others.”

And so what does this military wife do to combat this reality? She runs…..

I’ll be back tomorrow with a quick beach vacation recap!