I'm all in favor of thanking a veteran or current military member. Go for it! Every day! All day!
But Memorial Day is not about thanking your dad for his service unless he died while serving. Maybe it's just my FB feed, but it's bugging the crap out of me. Maybe tell your dad that you're glad today isn't about him? Or ask a vet about people they served with in war who ARE being remembered today? Something other than forgetting what today is actually about.
Yes, I'm irritable. And probably somewhat irrationally irritated about this. There's definitely more to it, anger and sadness about my general place in life at this very moment.
We left San Fran a few hours ago to head home, but we're connecting in Phoenix. I was already miserable when we left. I hated saying goodbye to my 10 week old nephew. I hated leaving three adults I love there. And honestly, I hated leaving the city/region. We spent some time in Sonoma and I just love that entire area. San Fran, Napa, Sonoma, I love it all. LOVE it. Dallas just feels so blah, especially by comparison. And especially blah after an amazing five or six days in San Fran.
But now, I just want to go to Dallas. Bad weather in Dallas meant a ground stop that impacted our connection, so we're currently only delayed three hours, but I am predicting it will be more, if we make it at all tonight.
Honestly, flying in and out of Dallas is never supposed to be this hard, certainly not in May. For me to have two of four flights this month seriously impacted by weather is beyond irritating. I know, better safe than sorry. I'm not advocating in favor of flying in dangerous weather. Or with tired pilots, which is another issue for us (our pilots just went over hours when they announced the most recent delay, so they're calling for new pilots, which makes me even more sketpical about whether we'll make it home). But I'm more yelling toward the heavens, "It's May for goodness sake, get your crap together and just be sunny, mild and gradually warming!"
Sigh.
Mostly, I miss the baby. Here are just a few. Tell me, isn't he insanely adorable????
In case you can't read that bottom onesie, it says "Dear Auntie, you rock!"
The one on the sofa - SO CUTE. He's precious. I hate leaving my niece and nephew, too - far away babies make me miserable.
ReplyDeleteI seriously took about 500,000 pictures. I'm so in love...
DeleteTotally adorable ... :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I get what you're saying - we were having that discussion last night around our fire pit toasting marshmallows, and all recognize that ... but tend to soften when it is a matter of any chance to recognize veterans, especially with so many from WWI, Korea and Vietnam being lost to age each year.
I think of Memorial Day as being for the forgotten, those who died in battle and therefore possibly never got to have children (or never met those they had). When veterans die outside of war, it's service to be commended (I promise I admire it, my husband and father and both grandfathers are/were vets), but the service didn't take their life, they returned from war and got back to living. I like the idea of the entire country taking time to think about those who never made it back. Yesterday, I asked my husband about the KIAs he served with and got some interesting stories, and we went to the WWII memorial in San Fran for those lost in the Pacific, whose remains never made it home for burial. That to me is Memorial Day. But you're right, it's good to appreciate vets all the time, we owe a lot, and it's probably not worth being irritated. ;)
DeleteOf course you are correct - and compared to the 'beer & bbq' spirit of celebration or marking of fashion transitions, there is good reason to be peevish about 'forgetting the forgotten'.
DeleteI was brought up with Memorial Day as a 'remember the dead' holiday, not even much military emphasis until later - and I had plenty of military since I grew up just after the 'everyone does service' era - so I am not so bugged about it so long as there is some sort of remembrance going on.
My personal peevishness came during the parade. Sure our initial reason to attend was our kids marching with the marching band, but we were dismayed that the biggest response came for the band and the little league kids, as opposed to the military people and the several 'in memory of' trucks behind them ...
Oh - and again I love the pics, it looks like you got a ton of baby holding time. I love babies :)
OMG so cute!!! Is this the nephew named Willard??? Too adorable. Glad you had a great visit and I hope your week gets better.
ReplyDeleteYep, that's Willard! I'm missing him like crazy. After a long and stressful trip home with the delays, we went straight to a 24 hour grocery store so we'd have breakfast and lunch stuff. My husband snapped at me about something and I started sobbing right there in the store (and I'm definitely not a crier, and definitely not a crier in public). I admitted it wasn't him, it was just me being homesick and missing Willard so much. Feeling quite blue today. Maybe a full night's sleep will help. Or maybe we'll just have to move!
DeleteAwwwww! So cute! He is just all smiles. I know what you mean about the SF area. It's the place I've visited the most (we had friends that lived there up until last fall), and every time I leave I feel so sad. It just feels like home to me...and has the best weather in the US (for me)!
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of honesty, I should post a few "Willard screaming" photos. ;) I think we'd be happiest somewhere like Sonoma, where it's a bit sunnier and warmer than SF, but close.
DeleteAnd let's be honest...all those people posting correctly or incorrectly on Facebook about the holiday are probably more happy to have the day off work then care what the holiday is all about.
ReplyDeleteTrue dat.
Deletefirst, i'm not a baby person, but yes, he is stinking adorable!
ReplyDeletesecond, i'm right there with you with people confusing memorial day with veteran's day. so annoying!!!
third, i feel the exact same way about my trip to oregon right now that you feel about your trip to SoCal. i did NOT want to come back to texas.
I think maybe it would be easier in the fall or winter? Coming back to Texas May-Sept is even harder b/c we know we're in for some not ideal weather...
DeleteThat smile just melts my heart! He is so cute. And thank you for that intro about the confusion between the two holidays. I just keep my mouth shut. There's a half marathon through Sonoma that looks like fun!
ReplyDelete