The Thing About Memorial Day Weekend

[KG Erwin]

I always get into a funk at this time, as the anniversary of my mother's death is May 29. It's been a long time now, 19 years, but she died suddenly at the age of 52 way back in 1988.

Even after all these years, I've never fully recovered from her untimely passing. Thankfully, my dad, who's now 73, is still around, and he has since remarried.

So, Memorial Day has a special significance for me. Just wanted to share this.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

You must have loved your mother a great deal.

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

[Brigz]

My father passed away a little over two years ago at the ripe old age of 86 and I am now helping take care of my Mom who is going to be 80 in about a month. She is in good health and I hope she will be around for many more years, but it's a strange feeling wondering what it will be like when both my parents are gone. Life, as you get older, becomes such a bitter-sweet experience.

[KG Erwin]

Look, I didn't wanna get maudlin here, but the fact is that my dad and I are better friends now than we've ever been. I'm almost 50, with a family of my own, so we have more common ground now. My mom didn't live to see her grand-daughter, but Dad can, and it's obvious that he loves all the grandkids. He's a good man.

[Twotribes]

My mom died in 1993, I had just spent a week with her ( returned from Okinawa) and driven to my new duty at 2nd FSSG Camp lejeune.
She was 59. I got to spend a week with her so was lucky.

My Dad died in 2000, he was 67.

My Dad and I were never close, but I miss him. He was an alcoholic but had quit drinking in the mid 1980's, I was VERY proud of the fact he never drank again for all those years. Dad was a retired Soldier, he was grunt in the Army, served a full tour in Vietnam and was wounded and almost died on a second tour there. He was proud that I was a Marine and gave me advice at times on stuff about the military.

But my Mom's unexpected death was the hardest. If I needed someone to talk to, she was there. It was a tough time after she died.

[Zap]

I have no immediate family who died in battle. As I grow older, more and more, I appreciate and am thankful for their service to the nation.
My best wishes to all the familes who may have lost someone protecting our nation.