Party Time!!

Soon it will be the 4th of July The lake will be crowded with those seeking rest from their daily grind of work and home.

They will party..drink, play music so loud the trees and water vibrate. They will camp out, cook out, leave their trash behind. They will fly boats with skiers in tow. There will be children, laughing and swimming, just having a good time as they should. There will be no thought given or reverence for the meaning of this holiday.

Soon the fireworks will start. From dusk until two or three am every night the sky will light, the fire crackers will pop, the rockets will whistle and burst sending glowing burning embers across a blackened sky. They will cheer and whistle, ravenous for more and more, having not a clue or interest in what they represent.

We will be behind closed doors and windows waiting for this to pass. Every year it is tough, some tougher than others. War leaves scars, deep scars, that never go away. Physical ones will heal. The others, buried deep are inoperable.

You learn to live with them and for the most part it works..Until.....

My husband built radio relays in Viet Nam in 1968/69. For 18 months, he did his job like so many of our brave servicemen. They were bombarded with incoming that lit the sky and whistled past their ears, if they were lucky. They dealt with the feelings when they lost their comrades or so they thought... They dealt with the feelings when the sky lit up and they dove for cover or so they thought... Every year it comes back and we are prisoners in our home dealing with the incoming and overwhelming need to seek cover. I refer you to my poem Space

Once our children thought it was hilarious because daddy dove to the ground when a car backfired. We took this opportunity to sit them down and explain why this happened. They learned because of men and women like their dad, they had the opportunity to live in a safer world. They have gone on to serve their country... and their children are now serving..one in Afghanistan, just barely 20, another still training..just 17 years old.

It's time we take a look at the invisible wounds they bring home, what they endure for the rest of their lives...and know that you don't have to duck and cover because they did that for you.....Cecelia

This is for all the troops, from all countries that serve to make this world a better place for us to live.