Since Brandon was in kindergarten, I’ve taken him to the memorial park in his “hometown” (from the home where he was born) on Veteran’s Day for their celebration and honoring of the veterans of the area. In previous years, flags were distributed. This year, when we arrived at 1030 am, handmade poppies were given out. We found a place on “the wall” where they’ve sat the last two years. (We missed his first grade year as we were in FL for my run). I stood behind them and had both of them lean on to me. They brought things to do – Peyton a joke book, while Brandon brought his story cubes from Mckayla and Marcus last Christmas. They played nicely with the cubes, coming up with funny stories based on what was on the dice. I even took a turn, to help eat up more time. When the bagpiper started, I had them put all their belongings away. One woman asked if I would make room on the wall for her elderly father to lean against. Brandon dutifully schooched closer to Peyton, and both kids were very solemn. Normally, they’d push each other around being that close, but they were very respectful. Some other kids were making noise, and they were shushed by the lady in front of us. I told my two that they should be quiet to avoid the “shush” of a stranger. They sat and listened to the emcee, the former mayor of the city, who helped put the monument together. She has been at each of the other ceremonies. This is the 9th year they have been gathering at 11 am on November 11th. The retired fire captain who we have seen year after year also gave his speech, noting that he’d been to Jerusalem recently, and found that it was similar to our city with the exception of armed guards at local places. I reminded the kids of our journey this summer, and how we also saw armed guards in some of our cities. It’s a bit unnerving being so close to big guns. The speaker that the kids got antsy with was a naval officer whose son was killed in Operation Red Wings. Peyton was getting squirrely, and she was starting to fidget, which transferred to Brandon since they were sitting so close to each other. I had Brandon stay on my left side, while Peyton was on my right. She knew that that was “the side” to be careful about, so she didn’t push me too hard. But with their movement and my shushing, it earned them a stern “shush” from the same lady in front of us. I was already doing my best to get them to settle down, unlike the previous grandma who was talking and giving her kid noisy food to eat. She didn’t say anything to the other kid who was also making noise before his mom whipped out a phone. I’m calling the race card on that one…but I’ll save that for another day. After being “told”, the kids remained quiet. The program was more than half over by that time, and they listened to the choir sing while the families presented the wreaths to their fallen sons. After it was done, the kids wanted to go put flowers on the statue, however I told them the flowers out there were first for the veterans that were in attendance. I didn’t want to wait around for our turn, since we had an agenda for the afternoon. We took the opportunity to leave, and we saw Orion, Curren and Jean on our way out. The kids remembered seeing them last year. I think they are coming each year, too. We parted ways, and we walked back the few blocks where my car was. I promised them our usual restaurant after. They settled in and started coloring, while I figured out what to eat. They each selected their kids’ menu items, and Brandon was excited to order the coffeecake this time. Peyton knew she couldn’t, so she ordered something that didn’t have that as an option – granola, fruit and milk. The service was a bit slower since it was crowded after the ceremony. The kids played hangman with one another, with Peyton picking pretty tough words. “Mangroves”. What?! She said she learned about it in her habitat studies. She also picked “transportation” for Brandon to try to guess. He picked “Crayola” and that stumped her a bit. Our food came out, and they got to the business of eating. While we were eating, the speaker from the ceremony came in and sat in the back. Brandon said, “OH, I want to go say hi!” I told him that we should finish our food first. I was trying to figure out a way for us to do that without being “weird”. I didn’t want to interrupt their meal, especially with two goofy kids. Soon, the ex-mayor, other family of another victim of the same incident, who was from the city, and spouses were all at the table as well. Initially, I stood up to leave after I got the bill, but Brandon motioned me to the table in the back. We talked about how he would do it. I told him he needed to shake the man’s hand and look him in the eye when doing so. He needed to say “thank you”. He agreed, but as we stood up, he balked. I told him it was okay if he didn’t want to, and Peyton remarked that she didn’t want to. But, Brandon turned around again, and headed to the back of the restaurant. He stood there, with a grin, while the man looked up at him and gave him “eyebrows”. Brandon re-gained his courage, and walked up to the man with his hands in his pockets. He slowly took out his right hand, and gave it to the man, while leaning over to him. I didn’t hear what they were saying, as my face was hot by the whole table of local dignitaries turning to look at us. As he came back to me, I gave a quick wave and thanked them as well, walking back out with the kids to pay. I wanted to know what he had said, since he talked only to the man. Brandon said, “I said, ‘Thank you for your presentation.’ But that was dumb, I should have said, ‘Thank you for the ceremony or something else like that.'” I told him I was proud of him for going up there, and that it was a great gesture. He said the man asked him his name, and then said, “You’re welcome, Brandon.” I’d had tears in my eyes throughout the whole morning, as I usually do, now that I have kids, I can appreciate somewhat (I will hopefully NEVER know the full extent) what these moms go through having lost their sons in combat. I wear sunglasses for the ceremony for good reason. We came home with time to change for their swim lesson. After swim, we did piano for Brandon (Peyton did it first thing this AM), reading for both kids, and then the kids played more story cubes before Dave came home. Brandon’s already looking forward to next year’s ceremony, but he did make it known that he didn’t want to be in the military. Later, he did tell me maybe he’d consider it, but I told him he can’t decide until he’s 18. But if he wants to go to the academies, then he needs good grades, and my mom said a congressman’s endorsement. My dad had tried for the air force academy, but his eyesight prevented him from successful entrance. Dave said he wished he’d done ROTC in college, or that he had pursued the military. I told him about Brandon’s gesture today, and I told him he should come with us one year. Dave’s comment, “I couldn’t keep it together.” He thinks it’d be too hard, especially with the decline in the number of veterans these days. It’s such an honor to see the WWII vets, and I’m sad that Brandon never got to meet Laurie’s grandpa as an older kid. He was a wee one when we took him to see WWII planes, but I’m sure he would’ve loved to chat his ear off about it now.
Here are the pictures I took today…
If we talk about the natural methods then exercise, meditation and healthy eating make a huge difference in the visual function test, eyeball pressure, cheap cialis overnight and retinal examination. These side effects are common and you will be able to perform canadian tadalafil better on bed. Shatavari improves generic cialis 100mg functioning of your reproductive organs. Its effects can last for up to ten hours. generic pharmacy cialis 
