Freedom

This is Memorial Day Weekend in America. (Tomorrow is our actual Memorial Day.) For our readers who live in other countries and may not know what this is: Memorial Day is the National Holiday we celebrate every year to honor our military men and women. Those in the past—who fought in too many wars—and may have died. And those who are currently serving in one of our Armed Services to defend our country at home and abroad.

It feels like a special—and somewhat surreal—Memorial Day this year. Because we’ve all—men, women and children—been fighting a war with Coronavirus. It has not just devastated the USA. It has devastated this World.

I’ve been crying off and on today. It started with watching our church service on-line this morning and continued as I’ve seen and read stories about HEROES that sacrificed everything so we could live FREE—today—in America.

And...yet...we don’t feel completely “free.” The lockdown/quarantine we’ve been in for over two months has been a special kind of HELL. For My Sweet Hubby (aka MSH) and me it’s been mostly inconvenient. Yes. We’ve been lonely. Stressed. Worried. Afraid. We’re retired. So staying at home? Not a huge change for us. Missing our families and friends? The life we knew? TOUGH. TOUGH STUFF. (We have had “garage” and “backporch” visits with TLC and The Little Princesses. They’ve allowed us to chat and laugh—from six-feet away. No hugging or smooching. Still...we’ve been grateful for these opportunities.)

MSH and I haven’t been worried about having the money to buy food. Or paying our bills. (We have, of course, lost much of our retirement funds in the collapsing Stock Market and economy. This will probably cause changes to the life we expected to have as we continued to age.) But there are too many people, individuals and families, who have lost loved ones. Jobs. Security. Hope. Who don’t know where their next meal is coming from and how they’ll wake up from this nightmare with a place to live. Or a car to drive.

So tomorrow, MSH and I will thank our Dear Lord God Almighty for all our past and present Servicewomen and Servicemen. For their patriotism and loyalty. For the lives we’ve maintained through this crisis. To date. For our children, grandchildren and families. For our friends. For our blessings. For our freedom. OUR FREEDOM. We’ll pray to God for this Coronavirus War to end.

Please stay strong, healthy and safe, Sweet Friends. We must believe:

THIS TOO SHALL PASS.

ELC