Memorial Day in Arlington…

To give the kids some context as to why they didn’t have school on Monday, I took them to Arlington National Cemetery.

I found myself getting teary-eyed and choked up as I explained the purpose of a national, military cemetery. I don’t know of any personal friends or family who are buried there, so the discussion was much larger than that.

It was about the idea of America and why, sometimes, people have to fight and die for a cause in which they-and others-believe.

I discovered that in my day to day, it’s so easy for me to think about what is wrong or what needs to be fixed here. Or what I wish were different that sometimes, it’s easy to take for granted the innumerable blessings that we as Americans have.

I remember the first time I felt gratitude for being American (in Berlin at age 14) and how my friend, Mike, a Russian immigrant, brings his family to DC each year for the same reason…so I hoped that today’s outing would have a similar impact on the team (who performed admirably, I might add).

We walked around the cemetery for about an hour, saw the eternal flame at JFK’s tomb, and, of course, had plenty of snacks.

I was proud of the questions they asked and their desire to have the names on the graves read to them, so the experience could be personalized.

There were a lot of people walking around and I was glad to be a part of this group on this day.

 

 

 

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