This midday I went to the Defense Luncheon sponsored by the Cascade Chapter but produced by the state regents of the DAR. The speaker was a wonderful man, Bill Knudson, spoke about the Honor Flight Program. http://www.honorflight.org/ Our DAR chapter sends members to welcome back local honor flight participants when they arrive back at SeaTac. We donated money in honor of our relatives who served, and my donation was for my adoptive father for WWII, my adoptive brother for VietNam, and my Uncle- Howard Flowers- who was in the death match at Bataan and is in the book Horror Trek. I didn't make it through without crying. I am SUCH a cry baby. All of these women named the family members who served in times of war and peace all the way back to the Revolution. I have had a family member in every armed conflict including the Revolution. So Honor Flight is a wonderful thing. It is set up that when the last surviving member of WWII is gone, it will take the Korean veterans, then Viet Nam. And unfortunately, it will probably never end since like it or not, we are the people who defend the world. If we had lost WWII, the world's chances for freedom would have disappeared and possibly never reappeared. Bill told his story about his veteran- his father who perished in battle in WWII trying to save one of his cohorts when their plane was shot out of the sky. The other members of his team survived by parachuting out of the bomb hatch. But Bill's father couldn't leave behind his friend- he felt he had to save him. And they died together. A French farmer pulled them from their wreckage and buried them in the local cemetery. They were reburied in the memorial cemetery in Normandy next to Teddy Roosevelt Jr. The two soldiers each had 200 francs on them, and the farmer did not take it but left it with them. He was so grateful for their help. Imagine that- a starving and poor farmer in a war torn country respecting the dead of his defenders so much that he couldn't touch the money they had on them. So Bill feels that this is a way to help pay his father back for his sacrifice. Everyone had to cry. It was a beautiful but very sad day. I don't know why so many sad stories are also very beautiful ones. Perhaps it is because you see the radiantly loving people that memorialize them and want to be better because of their sacrifices.
After all that, Alex and I went downtown to see Whiplash- which is basically a sort of sado-masochistic story about a brutal jazz instructor and his talented pupil. Alex and I both agreed it was good until the very end because frankly, a teacher that abusive would be FIRED. And a kid who stayed with it, just to prove he could, might deserve the crap he got. But then again, I am ever the realist. I've been in that green rehearsal room in Carnegie Hall and stood on that stage to sing with my chamber chorus in 2000 (I think it was in 2000). Funny, it sounds special but it didn't feel very special. It wasn't even that great acoustically. But it is something to say you did before you gave it all up. I was pretty blasé about singing- I didn't sign up to go sing in the Sydney Opera House- and I will say that might have been a mistake. I just didn't want to fly all the way to Australia.
Time falls back tonight- that means it will be dark here at 4:30 in the afternoon. I'm not sure what part of daylight we are saving here...we need to STAY in daylight savings time. Or just PICK ONE. This is ridiculous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J6JH-R-TN0 there's a trailer for that movie if you decide to see it.
And read UNBROKEN if you haven't. It's out in paperback.
I am going to the Seahawks game tomorrow. Yay! or oh no! Depending on the weather.
XOXOXOXOX
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