TheBanyanTree: Rumbly beginnings...

[auntiesash]

The motorcycle cops are first... although the tank that rolled past about
and hour ago put us all on warning.

Every year, the Veteran's Day parade goes right by my window.  Scores of
vets on motorcycles, riding in jeeps.  Herds of boy scouts, several marching
bands.

Lots of flags.

Every year, about this time, I think "Why didn't I just bring dad to work
with me this morning??  He could have seen the parade."  I think he would
like it.  One time he told me "being a soldier was something I did, not
something I AM"  When he talks about WWII, he tells me about Italian women
and fig trees.  Clever devices they used to keep the salt water out of the
oil.  I think we should have sent my dad to the oil spill last year.  I bet
he could have rigged up something.

It's a cold clear November day and I will mostly sit with my back to the
parade for the next two hours.  Now and then I will stop and look out the
window and I'll tear up.  For soldiers and for war and for my dad and for
wondering if I'll remember next year...or if there will be a next year for
him.

Happy Veteran's Day...if happy is the word that we need there....

-- 
Democracies are indeed slow to make war,
but once embarked upon a martial venture
are equally slow to make peace
and reluctant to make a tolerable,
rather than a vindictive, peace.
Reinhold Niebuhr