Sylvia's Journal

Today was Memorial Day which, in Manchester, is a standard ritual that Axel wouldn’t want to miss for the world. He rushed down to catch the memorial throwing of flowers in the ocean to honor the fallen navy heroes; then some coffee and on to the big event at the main cemetery for the remaining military branches.

I caught up with him, on foot, and marveled at the simple pleasure of walking freely and in peace. Such a treat.

Somewhere in between the usual halting recitation by a high school student of the Gettysburg Address (poppies in Flanders Field), wreath laying, 3 gun salutes, and the school band’s rendering of the national anthem we listened to a most wonderful keynote address about the refining of silver as a metaphor for burning off imperfections and seeing one’s face mirrored clearly in the molten silver – about God’s refining fire and taking care of our veterans. I am not doing it any justice right now.

We decided that the speech could have veered off in the wrong direction but it didn’t and we were spell-bound by the stories that brought the metaphor to life.

On our way back we visited family- Manchester is a small town and one cannot simply walk past the open windows of relatives. It took us the entire morning to walk back home.
In the afternoon we visited friends in neighboring towns, delivered gifts and made plans for my birthday party in Holland, later this year. It was a day of visiting, of being family and friends.