Memorial Day 2012 in Benicia, California
Yesterday, the day before Memorial Day, as I played outside with my two young sons, I thought of my Uncles that had served and decided that I need to go in and give them a call. But, my sons demanded my attention in the intense, playful way that they are prone to do and I stayed outside with them.
We ran and played ball. We worked up a sweat and had to stop to get cold juice for the boys. We played with our bulldog Lola and we generally just ran off energy. Basically, we had a great Sunday afternoon. As I was teaching one of my sons to ride his bicycle without training wheels, I heard a sound.
We aren’t that far from Travis Air Force Base (at least when measured in terms of air traffic) and so hearing planes overhead isn’t all that unusual. As I looked up, I saw a formation of planes crossing the sky, with the daylight moon in the background.
Only military planes fly in tight formation. Only military planes fly in a formation called Missing Man Formation, with an empty space where there is supposed to be the plane of a pilot that has been shot down and won't be coming home.
I looked at my innocent young sons and I looked back up at the formation of planes. Time to go in and make that phone call and say “Thank you for serving and for protecting my sons.”
"Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to teach him how to ride his bicycle."
(I have re-posted this blog specifically because a friend mentioned to me how it had touched him when he read it last year)
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