Remembering~

My heart remembers~
1969 Walter Cronkite on the evening news reading the nightly numbers: tragedies and fatalities associated with the Viet Nam Conflict. It made me angry; it made me weep. Forty-three years later, my heart still aches when I hear the details about current battles.

My hands remember~
washing my former husband's heavy woolen army fatigues in a basin of water, twisting and wringing until my fingers ached.

My feet remember~
the thermometer registered forty degrees below zero in Alaska as I hoofed it to the post office in town hoping to find a dollar tucked in a letter from my mom. Many days my toes were nearly frostbitten.

My eyes remember~
the mountian range in the distance that looked like white clouds reaching as high as I could see into the sky. The aurora borealis painting the night sky, and stars so close it appeared that I could reach up and pluck one. The summer 'round the clock sunshine and the field of pink fireweed growing wild across the road.

My funny bone remembers~
the Inspector General was coming to Ft. Greely to inspect every solider's equipment. My ex polished his brass, spit shined his shoes, and I decided to help him out by washing his mess kit and canteen with baking soda. I shined it to a silver lustre.

The soldiers stood shoulder-to-shoulder at attention, their items laid out in order at their feet. The IG stopped before each guy and examined random items, then moved to the next soldier. He stood before my former husband, bent down and picked up his sparkling canteen. He raised it above his head and turned it upside down to inspect the interior. That's when the water trickled from on high onto the IG's high-glossed shoes.

If memory serves me correctly, there was a verbal reprimand or two. In response to the IG's tirade, my former husband said, "Sir! Yes Sir!"

In response to my former husband's tirade, I said, "Fine! Okay! I won't touch your equipment ever again!" However, I did, and that my friends, is another story for another time.

Hats off to all of the men and women who serve or have served in the military.