This is a photo of Miss Priss I had taken when she was a bitty three-year-old at a Fourth of July parade in Bristol, Rhode Island.
I had pretty much forgotten about the photo altogether. But the other day, as Memorial Day was looming, the image popped back into my head and I knew I had to post it.
Memorial Day is all about remembrance. Remembering soldiers who sacrificed everything they had to give to help our country maintain freedom and equality and the pursuit of happiness.
I don't think anyone can measure what those things truly mean until you have lived in a world where they barely exist.
Our home is in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. A place that is still learning what it means to be good to its own people. Where every parking lot has an armed security guard, and a truckload of rifle-bearing soldiers driving down the street is commonplace, and the noises we hear at night could be either fireworks or gunshots.
We do not dare walk down the city streets here. And we have our car windows (as do most vehicles in the city) tinted as dark as our eyes can stand it. Not because we look like gringos, but because, in looking like gringos, we also look like money.
The pursuit of happiness in this place is something that is much too far out of reach for most of the people here.
But it is something they continue to dream for their children and their grandchildren.
(Because, thank God, dreams are still free.)
I heard some chatter up in the States, as Memorial Day Weekend was approaching, that the holiday had become synonymous with "party" and is celebrated for having a day off of work.
Not enough people, they said, were using it as a time of solemn remembrance.
(Shoot, even my husband, just now, got on my case for almost titling this post "Happy Memorial Day!" "It's an observance," he said to me sternly.)
But I beg to differ. Relish in your extra day off, walk down the street with your family, knowing that you are safe. Maybe not safe from everything awful in the world, but safe from most.
Because the people we are remembering, those brave soldiers who came before, who won't make it to barbeque's and family picnics, did what they did so you can do what you do. So you have the opportunity to be happy.
And free.
I hope all of you had a very happy, blessed and safe Memorial Day.
