Monday, May 31, 2010

How My Son Decided We Should Celebrate Memorial Day

May 31, 2010

in Army,holidays

I’ll be honest.  When I think Memorial Day celebration, I typically think cook outs and swimming pools.  This year being 9 mths preggo, we didn’t really make any big plans for Memorial Day weekend.   Scott grilled for us several times and even got out this smoker and cooked a chicken for Monday’s dinner.  We went to the park, did a few things around the house and basically took it easy all weekend.  It was perfect. 

So, my plans for Monday included sleeping in, eating sticky buns, perhaps a trip to Target in there somewhere and smoked chicken for dinner.

Then, I talked with my 6 yr old son.

Me:  Guess what?  Daddy doesn’t have to go to work on Monday.

Son: Why?

Me:  Because it is Memorial Day

Son:  What’s Memorial Day?

Me:  It is a day we remember the soldiers who gave their lives fighting for our country’s freedom

Son:  So, what are we going to do for Memorial Day?  Are we going to go down to the War Memorial?

Me: completely caught off guard…. ummmm…. I guess I didn’t really make plans for Monday

Son:  But what are we going to do to remember the soldiers?  Shouldn’t we go to the memorial?

Scott and I:  Sure, we can do that

Son:  And I think we should dress like soldiers, since it is their day, and we should bring our MRE and eat it b/c that is what soldiers eat

Scott and I:  ok… sure…. sounds like a plan

So, we did just that.

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This weekend my family enjoyed a peaceful weekend at home.  We went to nearby parks and enjoyed the swings, kicked the soccer ball in the field and played catch.  Many families might of done the same thing this weekend, only without their entire family with them to enjoy the event.  Many families sacrificed their husbands, wives, sons, or daughters so that my family and yours could enjoy such freedom.   As we played at the park, I never feared for our safety.  I didn’t have to look over my shoulder.  This is thanks to the soldiers that fought for our safety.   On Sunday we went to church.  The church of our choosing to worship in the manner we chose.   We were able to do this thanks to the freedoms our soldiers fought so bravely to defend.    

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  I am so thankful for the country I live in and the freedoms we enjoy.  And I am so thankful my son reminded us to take the time to pause and think of the soldiers who gave those gifts to us.  It was a great way to celebrate Memorial Day.

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Remembering Memorial Day

May 31, 2010

in holidays

In honor of Memorial Day, I thought I’d repost this post from Jan of 09 in which my son first learned of the ultimate sacrifice many of our soldiers make for our country.  As we were discussing what Memorial Day was this week, my son asked what we were going to do to celebrate.  “So, are we going to the memorial in Annapolis then?”  I realized that sadly, Memorial Day typically comes and goes without much thought at all to why we have the day off.  It seems to mark the beginning of summer and swim season and white shoes, but all to often we forget to pause and reflect on the reason for the holiday.   May you take time today to give thanks for the soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf and for those who are fighting today willing to pay that sacrifice should it be required.

A Deeper Understanding

JANUARY 24, 2009[edit]

in Weekend Thoughts

Last week in church the pastor gave an illustration in which he mentioned the number of American lives lost during various wars in our history.  My son looked over at me and asked why he was talking about American soldiers getting killed.

This led to a discussion later in the week in which it was brought to my attention that my son was under the impression that good guys don’t die in war.   It was a sobering discussion I had with my four year old that afternoon that went something like this…

Son:  Mom, why did the good guys die?  I thought they killed the bad guys.

Me:  Well, sometimes they do, but sometimes the bad guys kill them first.  The bad guys are trying to get them just like they are trying to get the bad guys.

Son:  But Mom, they have camouflage so the bad guys can’t see them

Me:  True, and that helps a lot, but sometimes the good guys still get hurt.  That’s why they are heroes…not just because they hurt the bad guys, but because by doing so they are risking their own lives.  That is part of war…good guys and bad guys die.

Son:  But Uncle Jim didn’t die.

Me:  Yes, and we are so thankful for that, but that is why we were praying for Uncle Jim when he was at war, because we wanted God to protect him.

Son:  But Uncle Jim isn’t at war right now…he’s training right now to be a captain.

Much later that night when we were saying our bedtime prayers my son prayed, “please keep Uncle Jim safe.”

I found this whole incident to be quite sobering.  We have stressed over and over through the years that soldiers, and policemen, and firemen are true heroes and deserve honor and our gratitude.  I guess though we never stressed why they are heroes.  And in the sweet innocence of childhood, my son assumed that only bad guys get hurt.  Yet we live in a world where that is not the case.

And as this truth sunk in to my little boy, his response was to pray for the Lord to protect his dear Uncle Jim who serves as a soldier in our U.S. Army.

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This served as a good reminder to me to continue to life up our soldiers in prayer.  While Uncle Jim is home in Texas right now, we are praying for our cousin Joel who is at war fighting for our freedom.  We are proud to have both soldiers as part of our family, modeling heroism for our children.

Since the original posting of this blog post, Uncle Jim has since gone back for a second tour of duty in Iraq and cousin Joel has safely returned from Afghanistan.  

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