Memorial Day

Don’t you hate it when someone co opts a National holiday for their own? Attaching their own meaning to a day that all ready has a lot of meaning?

Well, I’m about to do that.

I mean no disrespect to the men and women who died in service. In fact, I was at a remembrance parade when a different sort of memorial hit me.

How much my life has changed each year that I have gone to that parade.

2013- Little Sir and I sat with a dear friend and enjoyed each entrant as they marched by. Someone I didn’t know sat on the other side and elbowed me repeatedly to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. And I relished the feeling of peace that is in my life now. It didn’t come about the way I hoped, but it is here. My divorce is almost final. Little Sir and I are doing great. Gorgeous Gal is too far away. I love my new job. My life is busy and I certainly would not say predictable, but it is not full of the grinding chaos that has been wearing me down to a nub the last few years.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change.

The courage to change the things I can.

And the wisdom to know the difference.

2012- Gorgeous Gal was here visiting and I was moving toward reconciliation in my marriage. It felt like a miracle to have us all together.

Enjoy the good, learn from the bad and regret nothing.

2011- Little Sir and I went alone with his stroller decorated for the occasion. It was a difficult time as I had just separated a couple of weeks earlier. And I knew all the bombs had not yet detonated. But that didn’t mean my little guy and I couldn’t deck out a baby stroller in tinsel and bunting and make the best of it.

Fake it till you make it.

2010- I was very pregnant and couldn’t comfortably sit or stand. And I was so utterly happy. I cheered the  parade extra loud.

Just for today, I will be grateful.

2009- We had just come through some major financial struggles and felt closure on our losses and momentum for the future. It was the end of all the betrayals and the beginning of all the goodness. We had been through the worst and survived.

Every experience God gives you, every person he puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future only he can see. (Corrie Ten Boom)

 

I’ll be at the parade next year.

 

***Part 2 of Pura Vida posting on Thursday.