Memorial Day
Blips and I went to the Minnesota Vietnam Veterans Memorial in St Paul. They had a nice ceremony. A poem by Linda Ellis was read. She wrote it about 10 years ago. It is called The Dash. I wanted to share it with you.
The Dash
Linda Ellis
I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end
He noted that first came her date of her birth
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own;
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?
It was payday and we went out for coffee and Subway sandwiches. I had an iced espresso……mmmmmmmm. The sun was shining but the wind was cold…..and I did have ice coffee. I got really cold and Blips said he had a blanket in his car. Perfect for me, and he also brought his “Fargo Hat”. For a joke I put it on but it was so nice and warm that I just kept it on. Irish put her hood up so I did not look so odd. Hmmmm, people were stilll staring at us. We were laughing so much, I think they were just jealous. It was nice to laugh so much because maybe this will be Irish’s last payday coffee. She is going to New York soon 
That says Brooklyn on her shirt.
We got there early. While Blips was taking pictures, I sat down doing a little people watching. I noticed this one woman in particular. Her name is Judi. She was obviously so proud of any service person and all the military families. She was wearing a shirt that said, My son is a pilot in Iraq. She had a full size poster cutout of her son….on a stick. Yes, really! I thought that it was brilliant. That life size *hero on a stick* made him very real and very appreciated. Judi’s son is Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Hamilton. He pilots a blackhawk helicopter for Air Evac. He is temporarily in Germany. His wife and daughter are able to be with him for now. He has been deployed to Iraq but the date is only known to him. He evacuates those who need medical attention. So, to Thomas, we say thankyou. Thankyou for placing yourself in harms way for your fellow Americans. Thankyou to your family for the sacrifice they make for all the time spent away from you. 
I said I would blog more so this is for you. After work tonite, Irish, Amy and I had coffee at Caribou. Here are Amy and Irish in front of the fire at Caribou. We had a fun conversation with talk of our jobs and pictures of Amy’s son(sorry, no pics of him). The BIG question is….when are you and Sam going to be in Minnesota? We need to start planning now, so that we all can get together this time. Mir, we miss you