Memorial Day…..

…and so it begins…
The start of the Summer Season. 

Memorial Day…. It marks the beginning of summer in much the same way that Labor Day closes the same season for me.  You know that day when it is ok to wear white shoes again, when you plant your garden and when you put up or open the pool. 
You go to a parade and then to a big cook out….that day.

It is also the day that we remember the brave soldiers who have given their lives defending our country and the freedoms that we enjoy each and every day.  It is for them that this holiday is in remembrance for.

Today as Ken and I were walking around Lowes we noticed the music playing was patriotic marching songs and it made me smile.  It reminded me of the many Memorial Day parades I went to as a child sitting on my Dad's shoulders so I could see the marching bands.  It reminded me of the pride I have seen on the faces of the surviving veterans as they carried their flags while they marched along. 

It also reminded me of the burden of sadness…..the sacrifices of lives lost.  All of us have been touched in one way or another by the cost of war and the loss left behind. We are forever grateful.
~

In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King