I had a pretty nice weekend and started this post ready to give you the play by play of all we did.
My son stands in front of me as I write, watching his Ken Burn's Baseball documentary for the thousandth time while swinging his bat at an invisible pitch - smacking it out of the park.
And it's hitting me like a wave right now that some mother's precious son or daughter is not standing in front of them today. Because they are dead...casualities of war. Maybe it was last month, last year, in Korea, Vietman, the Pacific, the Battle of the Bulge or friendly fire in the desert. The breathless moment when their world came to an end can be buried but memory is a harsh wind capable of unearthing whatever comes in its path.
I'm humbled by their grief. My stories can wait for another day.
10 comments:
Thank you for writing this. The Va Tech thing hit me like a ton of bricks on Mother's Day. I feel for the moms that would not get that special hug on that special day. But I could not put it into words. You did so very eloquently.
michael - what can i say. as a mom, the loss of a child is just the worst thing i could imagine.
jar - you always write about being a mom so beautifully - i know you understand the tragedy of such a loss-especially with a son at VA Tech. a peaceful life is a luxury.
Well said.
Thanks for the reminder ....
Indeed.
Very moving. Simple moments like this have a way of grabbing you and shaking you to make sure you're paying attention to life. Thank you.
This weekend we attended an exhibit that brought home the original meaning of the holiday--Eyes Wide Open: an exhibition on the human cost of the Iraq War. It features a pair of boots for each U.S. military casualty. That was 3,452 pairs of boots the day we saw it. There are pictures and other mementos from family and friends too, as well as a memorial to the Iraqis killed in the conflict. Like you, I was so moved by seeing this that it became part of my post this week. There are a few pictures in my WTF sidebar.
As a postscript, please forgive was must seem like shameless self-promotion in the comment above. I was originally just going to email you to share this experience rather than posting a comment, but could find no email address.
jo(e) - your very welcome
dr. deb - I don't need to explain a thing to you! you remind us of these issues all the time.
terry b - i don't have an email with my blog so feel free to promote any of your posts here! I am so interested to learn about this exhibit you saw. It must have had a profound effect people.
Just right! This post I mean.
I am moved by memorial day--the thought of how my grandmother at 98, still goes just before MD weekend and puts flowers on her parents' graves. They died way too young, in 1918 (one of flu, the other in childbirth), and every year, it is important for her to do this. It is beyond sad that she only had them for the first 8 or so years of her life.
Thanks for reminding me to think of her, and for the vets this year especially, (the year that Cindy Sheehan became disillusioned).
--writermama
speaking of baseball -- i want to invite you to the opening of the history of baseball exhibition at the museum of the city of NY (my boyfriend is the marketing manager there). I can mail you free passes (if you want to go on the weekend) or if it's during normal work hours during the week (which i assume isn't possible) you can just ask for Jurek Lipski -- and he'll get you in free! please email me with an address and i'll send them to you if you're interested. (linda(at)pugphotography(dot)com)
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