They also serve who only stand and wait....

I know it's early, but this day is on my mind.  Remembrance Day.  That day we would look forward to every year in school as a day off...  How we made poppies from construction paper to hang on school bulletin boards, and memorized "In Flanders Fields".  But as I grow older and open my eyes a bit more I am seeing another facet to the day so many of us take for granted.  It is a day when honor, courage and faith need to be recognized.  Not just for soldiers.  Remembrance of those who have given everything for a cause.

I remember my Father talking about his term in the Merchant Marine during WWII.  It was during the bombing of Liverpool in England, and he was on layover waiting for his trip home.  He talked of taking shelter during the air strikes, and how devastating the aftermath of those strikes was.  He told us about helping out after a bombing by taking the bodies of small children to a "dead wagon" after the orphanage they were in was hit.  He told us in lurid and graphic detail how it smelled, what he saw and how he felt.  How he vomited from the sights;  how he stepped back to continue when he was done puking his guts out.  And how he got drunk for a week afterward to forget.  It was during that "lost week" that Dad got most of his tattoos.  The naked lady on his arm that "danced" when he moved his fingers; the rose with the banner "Mother"; the clipper ship under full sail; and the vulture...  By the time we were born those tattoos had begun to fade, and by the end of his life they were just blue-black smudges and only our memories supplied the shapes they once were.

Dad used to say to us "they also serve who only stand and wait" and it wasn't until recently that I truly understood what he meant.  There are those who gave their all for freedom.  Not the soldiers, although they gave us the ultimate sacrifice when they gave their lives for our futures, but the ones who watched them go.  The ones who stand and wait for their loved ones to come back.  Families.  Mothers and Fathers, Wives, Sisters, Brothers, Sons and Daughters.  Those who's hearts travel with those who served, and with those who continue to serve.  They have allowed us to have the future, and have given their futures for our comfort and freedom.  They are our unsung heroes, the front line of courage, those who have shaped our soldiers to be what they have become, and given freely to allow those who serve to do so with honor, courage and faith.  Now, when I have dear friends with family who serves our country, I have begun to understand the toll such courage takes, and how it can shape the lives of those who wait at home while their loved ones volunteer to serve.

In our country we live in paradise;  we have food, shelter, clothing and a high standard of living; clean water, good roads, readily available medical care;  we have political and religious freedom.  We have the right to go to the schools we choose, work the jobs we choose, marry who we choose, and live where we choose.  We live in the most amazing and beautiful place, and there are so many others who do not.  It's not because of luck;  it is because of the sacrifices of those who fought to give us those things and allow us to have our freedom.

So once again on Remembrance Day I will stand on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month in a moment of silence.  And I will honor in my heart not only those who served, but also those who stand and wait.