Memorial Day

I was on a military post at 5 pm the other day. That doesn't happen as often as it used to, since my husband retired from active duty many years ago. Still, as the bugle call sounded Retreat, I automatically stopped and faced the general direction of the flag, too far away to be seen. As the lovely warm breezes of a May evening washed over me, I closed my eyes and took a moment to enjoy the sun on my face.

I found myself faintly anxious in the silence as the last notes of Retreat faded, that same feeling when you know what the next movement of a piece of music is going to be, but it hasn't started yet. Or, since I pre-date the Shuffle Generation, that moment when some deep part of you knows what the next track will be, and relaxes in familiarity as it starts. And sure enough, at the first notes of To the Color sounded, I relaxed.

I thought about friends overseas, and their families, and was instantly transported back to a memory of when that was us, a family overseas, with DH even further away in a war zone. We weren't always on post in the evenings, since we lived "on the economy" in a beautiful little village. But that evening we were, and the girls knew what to do.