Remembering

"There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms"
-Dire Straits

Today is Remembrance Day. At the 11th hour of this 11th day of the 11th month, my children actually came into the kitchen with me to listen to the radio while a brief reading of the poem "In Flanders Fields" came on the airwaves. They were silent, my usually incessantly chatty kids, listening to the words and the accompanying music.

My father-in-law was in WWII. He's the only person I have ever personally known who was a soldier. He was a navigator on a navy ship, hunting down German submarines. He had lied about his age to get enlisted. I think a lot of young men did that back then. I just can't imagine going to war at such a young age.

I didn't have a chance to get to know my father-in-law very well. He passed away during the very early part of my relationship with Ian. We were just dating, and Ian's Dad had just been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. So I did not know him very long, didn't spend much time with him before he died as he was sick. I only got to know him from the way that Ian would talk about him, the stories that were told about him by my mother-in-law and Ian's siblings. I could tell that he was a wonderful man, father and grandfather even from that short time. Unfortunately he didn't live to see us get married, or to see his additional grandchildren that came along so many years later.

There are reminders of him in our home. Including a picture of his naval ship which hangs proudly in this study. And his helmet, the one from WWII, with his name etched into the metal. L is fascinated with it and tells his friends proudly that his Grandpa was a soldier in the war. He says that with a lot of reverence. Which is the way it should be, for any and all soldiers who have ever fought for liberty, or who are now keeping the peace. But especially for the brave Grandpa that he never got the chance to know.