What Courage It Must Have Taken!

As I sit here, on the eve of the anniversary of D-Day June 6th 1944. I think of what it must have been like to have been there. I don’t have to imagine too much because I do have recollections of that time. I was four years old and in the dawning of independent thought. I remember that our house was unusually quiet. I don’t remember the news broadcasts on the radio nor could I read the newspaper accounts, but I do remember seeing flights of airplanes in the sky and so many young men in uniforms everywhere my parents took me.
As I think about those people, I can’t help but think “how brave they all were”. I was conceived four years earlier when the outcome of the World War was in no way a forgone conclusion. These people took a chance in faith that their country would provide safe haven for their new family. As it turned out I was to be my mother’s only child but nevertheless, I think of myself as a symbol of their courage.
June 6th has a special meaning to me. It is my mom’s birthday. She has passed on now but during her life, in her own unassuming way, she inspired everyone with that spirit and belief that things would be better. She worked with my father to support their families in Mexico and Spain and provided me with the special gifts of learning and travel. I was brought into the world of adults and y ideas were treated with respect. My mom was the sweetest person I ever met, she loved my father with a fierce passion and loved me so much that she never hesitated to sacrifice for me. We would go out for dinner and have lemon meringue pie for dessert. She new I liked the lemon but did not like the crust. She always pretended to “love” the crust and gave me the lemon.
She loved everyone. She wanted a little girl and God played a rotten trick on her by giving her me. When I brought my bride to be to meet her you could almost hear the sucking sound as my mom just pulled her into her world of love. She loved our boys and loved their kids.
Thanks mom for taking a chance in those war years so long ago and for bringing that spirit forward into our lives.