The Fulton Girls on Memorial Day

These are my girls.  I just love them so much and they fill our lives with such joy.  I don't know what they spotted out the window, but it sure had their attention, didn't it (notice Spot's tail in action)?

I wonder if anyone under the age of 50 really understands Memorial Day.  But I primarily think of my father's generation and those who died during WWII (all wars, but this one touched me personally because of Dad).  Dad never talked about serving to me, but I know he talked with Paul alot about it.  I never knew much about his service, except for what his sister, my Aunt Nane, told me.  He served in the South Pacific, was a bombadier, and his plane went down.  He was in a hospital for about 6 months and was in pain for the rest of his life.  What he saw haunted him.  I know that Paul turned to him when he was facing the prospect of battle.

I am grateful to film director Steven Spielberg for bringing the horrors of war and death in his film "Saving Private Ryan."  He really gave a true and gripping account of the landing on Normandy to a generation who have become so de-sensitized to war.  He showed the emotions of those men as they drifted towards to the shore.  For the most part, these were just boys. 

And when Jim and I drive around Chattanooga and the different areas where battles in the Civil War were fought, we are so humbled.  I can see these young men climbing these hills and mountains with all these trees, so far away from home.  And when we drove the Gettysburg Battlefield, you could imagine these boys involved in something they maybe really didn't understand.  Away from their families, scared, just trying to survive.  On this day, I have to stop and thank all of those men and women who lost their lives in order to make this the incredible country that it is.  Isn't it a shame that now we have an embarrassing Commander-in-Chief?  What an affront to those who have lost their lives.