Memorial Day

This is one of those days that I just have a hard time writing a regular post.  Design, “authentic life” etc. just somehow seems a little inadequate today.

My dad was drafted to Vietnam when he was still a kid.  At an age when I was picking out dresses to wear to what I imagined were going to be very glamorous college parties, he was in boot camp.  At an age that I was enjoying everything that the University of Georgia had to offer, some days literally breathless with excitement at all of the possibilities that the future held, my dad, still a kid, was overseas in a foreign country and losing friends in combat, who all of a sudden had no future.  At an age when, to me, the future seemed wide open, he had to wonder if his would even exist, and my grandparents and uncle had to wonder that as well.

When we will little, not often, but sometimes we would go through Dad’s pictures from his time in Vietnam.  He would talk about all of his friends in those pictures, and us kids would laugh at the funny nicknames they all had for each other.

On Memorial Day, I always think about the guys in those pictures, some of whom did not make it home.  I think about their families and loved ones, who are mourning today.  And I think about my dad, who is also in mourning for the friends that he lost in service.

I’m grateful for their sacrifice, and the sacrifice of countless other men and women, who have died in service protecting our country and freedoms and the freedoms of others.

I hope you all have an enjoyable and meaningful Memorial Day with family and friends!