Book of Days

My posts lately have centered on the importance of stories and today, as we gather for a cookout, it will be a day of special stories of grandparents, great-great uncles, and other relatives that have given to their country in very special ways.

Josh has recently heard stories of his grandpa’s service as a seargent in WWII and how he was honored with taps and a gun salute at his recent funeral. When studying WWI, he found out from his gradmother about a great-great uncle who was killed in France at the end of the war and is buried there. He has heard the stories about his other grandfather who served in WWII and missed the celebration at the end of the war becuase his ship was still out at sea; of a third cousin who was shot while in the Vietnam War; of his aunt performing in shows at a hospital in Hawaii to cheer up the soldiers wounded in the Vietnam War.

As we tell these stories of our own family, our prayers and thoughts will especially be with the families that have recently lost their loved ones/soldiers. 

Today Josh will proudly wear the “poppy” he received when we donated to the Veterans of Foreign Wars outside our local grocery store. We have recited a favorite poem  from our study of WWI and even have a framed copy set out as a reminder of what today is all about. We share that poem here with you:

                 In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.