Flag Day

Yesterday was flag day, did you know? Thanks to the scouts fund raising drive you may have had a flag placed in your yard for the day, we did. For the most part it was a normal day - we got up, got ready and looked at the flag in our yard as we left for work. I dropped the kids off at their grandma's and went to work. It was pretty much a normal day - except I got free lunch, okay so that happens a lot too.

I finished my shift around 5:30 and went to get the kids. Traffic my direction was smooth, and I was glad I wasn't heading north because cars were backed up for miles - and that's normal too. I hurried and changed Grace and Max and then we got back in the car. The rest of the evening was not normal.

Every year the Newgate Mall hosts the Flag Day Ceremony. We work closely with the Veterans and work to get community donations for the attendees. This year we had it in the evening to see if it was draw more people, sadly it did not. Pepsi provided water and Chick-fil-A donated sandwiches to everyone there, and then gave a coupon for another free sandwich, we announced it on the speakers and had signs, but very few people stopped what they were doing and came out. But I'm glad we did.

It is a truly touching experience observe Flag Day. The Governor spoke, followed by the mayor and the Veteran leader. A band played and then a brand new flag was lifted into the sky. The sky was blue and the weather was perfect. Max and Grace were busy, and some times I was nervous they were bothering some of the people, but I was glad they were there.

After they raised the new flag they had a retiring flag ceremony, and I've never seen this before, Mike and I both had tears in our eyes. They read a poem about the flag and then discussed the meaning of each strip as they cut it apart. They handed a stripe to each veteran and then the Governor carried the square with the stars. They lit a fire in a barrel and then each veteran dropped a stripe in the fire. After every veteran had a chance they let asked people observing the ceremony to come up and burn one flag, Mike got to and it was a neat experience.

Then they did the fallen soldier portion, and I had tears. The Veteran President goes through the role call for the Veterans in their division and any who are present answer here. Those who don't answer have "fallen" this past year. They repeat the name three times and then ding the bell in remembrance. When they are done they bring the soldier's gun, boots, helmet and dog tags and place them at the front of the stage. The soldiers do their gun solute and then the band begins again.

It was not a normal finish to the day. I remembered to be thankful for all the normal things I get to do each day, and tried to explain that we live in America, and we are free to work, and to wear what we want, and to worship how we want. We live in America and we have soldiers fighting for our freedom, and the freedom of others. We have a beautiful flag that we can hang freely and that stands for ideas of a better place. I'm so thankful for those freedoms. I'm so thankful it was not a normal day. Sometimes I think we need to remember how blessed we are, even when bad things happen, even when those leading our country make decisions we don't agree with, even when we are down on our luck - we are so blessed to live in this country!

(Every time I tried to put the border around this picture Picasa cut her head off....so no border.)