Monday! Memorial Day, and a day to remember those who served.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
We have split up the publishing duties, but we welcome everyone in IAN to do daily diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to share!
If you'd like to be part of the Itzl Alert Network, please leave a comment asking to join, or send us a message asking to join. We'd love to have you. The bigger our network, the less likely someone will be stranded all alone.
[This is bigjac. BadKitties gave me permission to alter her diary, so it looks like free verse poetry. I was inspired to do this, because her diary felt so poetic to me. I will post a link back to this in the Tuesday comment thread, so folks can come back and read this.]
Ah, Memorial Day.
A day dedicated to our heroes.
To those brave, unselfish, and patriotic
men and women
who served in our armed forces,
I salute you with love, honor, and respect.
You are the best of us,
and I admire you greatly.
You are the boots on the ground,
the pilots in the sky,
the eyes beneath the sea,
the ones
slithering through the swamps
and in tunnels,
to preserve our freedom
and protect our country.
On this day,
let us bow our heads for a moment
and give thanks for them.
Those who came home alive,
and those who did not.
For all those who served
and who currently serve,
thank you,
from the fullness of my heart.
Since IAN is,
by design and mutual agreement,
non-political,
I will not rant about
injustice,
foul Republicans,
and their hypocrisy.
Instead,
I ask that just for a moment,
you wish for blessings for our troops.
May they all come home.
Memorial Day,
for me,
used to mean the start of summer.
It was a weekend of
barbeques and house parties in the Hamptons,
and late-night bonfires on the beach.
Today,
May 26,
was also my son's due date.
I,
being something of a control freak,
plotted his birth in order to get the summer off =)
Funnily enough,
four years later,
Cattus Minor was due on May 28th,
also Memorial Day weekend.
Both managed to miss
being born during the weekend,
and their birthdays are 11 days apart.
This year,
and in the years past since my father
(a full bird colonel in the USAR,
among other things)
died,
Memorial Day is one of reflection.
Daddy LOVED the Army.
He went through the Air War College,
and the War College,
and worked with the Joint Chiefs of Staff
during hasty trips to DC.
He had DoD plates on his car for a while,
then VFW plates.
He was a man of many secrets,
none of which he ever told.
He was a 32nd degree Mason,
and a Rosicrucian.
And a couple of other things,
too.
I miss him greatly.
He loved us,
and his country.
[bigjac here, again: This little slice of life truly felt poetic. I'm putting it in blockquotes.]
We walked past a young soldier
in the Denver airport,
before leaving on Friday.
I hesitated,
but kept walking.
Then my daughter said,
"Mama, shouldn't we thank him?"
I said,
"Yes, we should."
So,
we walked over to this
exceedingly young man in fatigues,
and said,
"Thank you.
May you come home safely."
He smiled at us,
and said,
"Thank you."
Such a small thing.
I will keep his face in my thoughts,
and pray that he does come home safely.
Have a good Monday, everyone.
I know this is a weird, rambling diary,
but I had to write it on my IPad,
in a hotel room.
I beg your indulgence =)
My emotions have been off-kilter
for the past couple of weeks.
[And bigjac says,
thanks for reading.]