Listen and Remember

Memorial Day.....a day to reMEMber....a day to meMORialize....a day to pay tribute to all the fallen American soldiers in wars past and present. But how best to do that? I found out today --by simply spending time REALLY listening.

The Bud and I were working on some heavy-duty renovation projects this weekend. In the middle of one of our wall-building events (no lie), our next-door neighbor came over to check on our progress and shoot the breeze. Little did we realize the wealth of knowledge that would pour from this man over the next two days in the form of tips and tricks of construction to make our project much easier, less time consuming, and waaaay better on the stress meter ;)

But... in the midst of all this great info came other conversations as well. We began to understand this man a bit better as he relayed stories from his service during the Vietnam War. As we listened, we really began to HEAR how he lives his life today BECAUSE of his service during the Vietnam War some almost-fifty years ago. He gave reasons for his jumping at various sounds some of our equipment made while working on our project. His sleeping patterns have never been that great because of never WANTING to go to sleep in Vietnam, for fear of being ambushed. Rainy days are better than sunny days, in his opinion --rainy days are less stressful; no one wants to go outside, so there's less chance of anyone wreaking havoc. How a lot of people just will never understand what veterans have gone through; in his words, "no one understands that you have 40 years of nightmares to deal with."

The Bud is wonderful at listening to these men from the generation before ours as they tell their stories. I am learning. I am trying to take a page from his playbook and do this as well. I tend to want to hear the story more quickly and move on to the next thing. He, on the other hand, knows the value of taking to time to listen. He has gleaned much wisdom and knowledge from these conversations. I decided this weekend I was going to slow down and listen as well. So I did.

My God is amazing at timing and He shows love to all, with no partiality. Not only did He help me hone my listening skills, not only did he give The Bud someone to help him with quick tips, but He also allowed us to honor someone for their service to us all on the very weekend that is dedicated to that.....and all just by sitting, listening, asking questions, and hearing answers. .

I've seen lots of reminders for Memorial Day these last few days on Facebook and most of them were reprimands to us all about BBQ's, picnics, and days off. I understand the sentiment behind it, but I also think that taking time to listen to a veteran usually can only happen at BBQ's, picnics, and days off. We didn't have a BBQ or a picnic --in truth we were building walls and using sledgehammers (no lie)-- but I did have a day off and we spent it listening to a Vietnam War Veteran and for that I am one grateful American Citizen.

Thank You to all who gave some, and some who gave all.