remembering Memorial Day

The week leading up to Memorial Day had the Empire State Building decked out in her RED, WHITE & BLUE!  I love the building when it's showing these lovely colors....

 

Pictures are from our apartment window - which means we have a great view & which means it makes it hard to really want to move & leave this view....not that we are moving.  So never mind.

Memorial Day morning we woke up & had a little bit of a relaxed time - Bryson had to go into the office but before that he worked out and then made breakfast with the kiddos while I went and worked out (if I'm gone than at times it's amazing to see what can happen when I'm out!).  I came back to find pancakes and fresh fruit....perfect color display for any day & particularly this holiday! 

The kiddos and I had talked about going into Central Park to enjoy the day off from school.  I have wanted to enjoy sites around the city more & really enjoy living here when we have the time to....however, when it's 90 degrees with humidity well over 50% the fun factor diminishes immensely.

Instead air conditioning won out.  And the kids played happily together inside where they transformed their room into a cabin, the woods and created their own diversion to keep busy and happy.  Why leave when they were enjoying themselves this much?!

We did eventually leave - at first we were going to try to go in to Central Park for a good-bye dessert and play for a family that is moving to London (they are in our ward, on the island and her daughter is at the school).  We never made it.  I realized that there were 2 other good-bye events planned, and we would go to another one for them.  In the end we ran to Michael's to find some crowns for a performance that Madeleine was doing the next day in school.  We then tried to go to Costco - closed for the holiday (no worries, because I went there 3 more times this week, so I definitely got my fill of that place lately!) and then decided to come back and order pizza and play at one of our own parks here on the island.  It's not quite the bbq that one thinks of on the day that now seems the official opening day of summer.  However, it seems that we have to change our mindset with a few things living in the city...having a bbq seems to be a thing of the past for this phase of our life.

We sat down at Riverwalk Plaza (behind the subway and between 2 apartment buildings) to start our pizza picnic.  I sent a text to Bryson to tell him where we were & crazy enough about 5 minutes later Madeleine exclaimed "I think that's Dad in the taxi over there!"  And sure enough...it was.

After our delicious pizza dinner {that was the first pizza this week - and then was followed up by 3 other times eating pizza this week....a bit of an overkill, although I kept telling myself it is has parts to all 4 food groups (rationalizing my motives at its' finest)} - we enjoyed having the temperatures drop from the day and enjoying time outside with a variety of activities and visiting with everyone that would walk by....it's one of the main areas of traffic on the island so we ended up seeing quite a few people we know....fun and a bit of a sidetrack!

...roller-blading for Madeleine
{see those amazing skates?  the lady moving out down the hallway threw them out hours before this!  We inherited quite a few things from her move...a new yoga mat for me, tons of Ann Taylor clothes that I passed onto our Japanese friends (unfortunately she & I weren't the same size!), and some other things that we passed on to a family that just moved her for an internship and needed in their place for the summer.  I love when people leave treasures for us to find!)

and the boys enjoyed baseball with Dad and some other boys that flocked to the game once they started to play...

I wish I had been in front of these faces!  I love how both boys are reacting to something with such funny expressions....I also wish I knew what had happened.  Maybe it was the ball going in that direction?!

And this is the view out to the East River - Manhattan side - from where we were playing....

We finally left as the sun had dropped so low that it was turning into night & we had 2 very tired boys and 1 tired girl....who were dripping with sweat but had happy smiles on their faces.  I think those smiles temporarily disappeared during a quick scrub down - these boys love their bath when they get to play for an hour or so, but they detest the idea of having a quick bath.  To them that is a huge oxy-moron!  Thankfully, they didn't hold a grudge too long and we had some tired smiles as these kiddos all fell asleep really fast.

In honor of Memorial Day - a recognition to all servicemen and how blessed we are to have so many from our family that have served and given such an example of dedication to their country.

While reading our family history the past year, we realized that we have an ancestor that fought under George Washington in the Revolutionary War - Harmon Cummings.  He enlisted with his neighbor, with the intention that they would each serve half of the required time, so that the other man could stay behind and look after both farms and look out for the other family (both had young wives and children).  The neighbor went first, but was killed in battle so Harmon had to go earlier than planned and served the 5 years for both of them.  During that time, it was the hard winter where the Patriots were underfed, ill-clothed and were losing the war. General Washington decided to make the surprise move on the British with the night crossing of the Delaware & amazingly enough....Harmon was in that very troop that crossed the river that night.  In his journal he talks about how the soldiers had left bloody foot-prints on their walk down to the river and the miracle it was that they crossed undetected and turned the war with their win in Trenton.  What a miraculous event and what an amazing legacy in our family history to have this man in our family!

We also have been blessed to have had Alton Jack (my mom's mom's father) who served in World War I.  I need to remember to ask my mom more about his service, but I know that he walked with a crutch/cane for the remainder of his life, but I can't remember if that was due to Polio that he had contracted or if it was due to an injury in the war.  I don't even know where he served in WWI.....there is more to find out with this story!  I do love my mom's memory of him - they called him Grandpa Jack and she said that he was a man with a golden heart.

Then my mom's father - Clinton Ray Miller, served in WWII as a pilot for the B-17 bombers.  He had an amazing mission while stationed in England.  A highlighted version of this story is that they went out on a flight mission one night, and a large cloud covering/fog rolled in.  The flight equipment on the plane stopped working properly and so instead of directing them correctly on where to come in to land, it was directing them to land in the ocean.  That isn't a good option for an airplane (Captain Sully was lucky & years of technology helped his airplane navigate that landing....a B17 probably would not be so lucky, nor would it have dozens of NY Water Taxis close by to take off passengers...anyway back to the story).  As my grandpa came out of the clouds and saw that they were heading to the water, he pulled back up and they started to try to figure out how to navigate back to the airport.  There were prayers involved - amazingly enough it was an almost all LDS crew, there was one non-member who was a strong Catholic, so they were a strong group of young men and my Grandpa has said that they never prayed harder or more fervently.  In a miracle moment, the crew found a light or was it a star? --- and they were able to use that and direct the plane to the island and land the plane.  Simply.  Amazing.  {another amazing note - I just tried to find the article that was written on my Grandpa and the crew, as it was written by Deseret News a few years ago.  Anyway - I googled my grandpa's name & I didn't find the newspaper article, but link after link came up referencing my Grandpa and the work he has done as a Health Lobbyist.  My grandpa is a hero.  His life has been absolutely remarkable - he has incredible stories at every turn.  I wish my energy were a tenth of what he has....even still at 89.  I need to do a post - or many posts - on my Grandpa!}

The final people to recognize are those from my family that served in Vietnam.  My dad was in the army, and was stationed in Arlington, Virginia - and was not physically in Vietnam but had been placed to stay in the States.  Good thing he was.  That is where he met my mom & with that dating and eventually marriage and the beginning of our family.  Good thing he was in Virginia!

My mom's three older brothers - Kent, Ray & Danny - also served in Vietnam.  I know that each has dealt with issues from the intensity of that war.  We also have my sister, Celeste's husband that went to Iraq and served for 18 months, about a year plus ago.  He is an OBGYN in the army & we were surprised as many others were, when he went to Iraq that he was not in some cushy hospital only delivering babies.  It was far from that!  How grateful we are for their selfless service and all they did for our country.

And then - the bonus family member is one that I didn't even know about.  Walter Lord {not to be confused with this Walter Lord}.  It's Bryson's Great-Grandfather, who served in WWI.  He served in the British Army, as he was born and raised in Yorkshire & then emigrated to America after the war.  Bryson's dad sent out his history this week & a poem that Walter had penned after a near-fatal incident during his service, where the ship he was on was hit by a torpedo.  Thankfully, he and a shipmate had decided to sleep on deck that night due to hot weather & had put their hammocks up and fell asleep, only to be awoken to the ship hit and sinking rapidly.  Out of 900 soldiers on board, about 600 perished when the ship went down - in a matter of 10 minutes.  What a blessing that Walter's life was spared.  As I told the story to the children, we talked about the importance of listening to the Holy Ghost - those impressions, and small whisperings are those that make a significant difference in our life.

Here is a copy of the poem he wrote - it really is a beautiful piece of poetry....

{note:  this is not the actual ship he was on...I tried to google to find a picture of it, but it never came up.  This is an HMS ship from the Royal Navy though - so I imagine the ship looked something similar}

THE SINKING OF TROOP SHIP S.S. LOUVAIN,

IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20^TH, 1918

     

      1.See the troop ship sailing onward,

Through the sea of azure blue,

Filled with sons of mighty England,

Going forth to war, with will to do.

2.   No sign of fear in any face,

No talk of death on any tongue,

As the order comes, “keep life-belts handy,”

We’re coming into the danger zone.

3.   Our guardian ship, a bold destroyer,

Drops slowly, quietly to the rear,

As night falls gently o’er the water,

No sign of lurking death is near.

4.   Within their hammocks the men were sleeping,

But the watching sentries failed to see,

The lurking shadow off to starboard,

Tossing in the rolling sea.

5.   A submarine was waiting, watching,

And as the troopship hove in view,

Released a torpedo straight toward us,

Sent with deadly aim and true.

6.   Suddenly a noise like thunder,

Woke us from security,

And the good ship, S.S. Louvain,

Settled in the restless sea.

7.   Confusion reigned, no time for boats,

The ship was sinking fast,

Each man, who could, went overboard,

Into the ocean vast.

  

8.   Below the decks that fatal night,

Two hundred sailors lay,

None gave a thought that nevermore,

They’d see the light of day.

 9.   The sea rushed in the engine room,

The boilers blew sky-high,

The black squad standing watch that night,

Were all foredoomed to die.

10.  The sea was turned to angry foam,

Wreckage lay all around,

As, with the proud troop ship Louvain,

Three hundred souls went down.

11.  Their names are writ in purest gold,

On the roll of England’s dead,

But nothing can ever compensate,

For the tears that have been shed.

12.  Grim war, the curse of every race,

Oh will it never cease,

To vanish from within our midst,

And on the earth be peace.

Again, we are so thankful for all servicemen and these that have served from our family.  What a blessing freedom is and how thankful we are that people love our country so very much that they will go to the front lines and fight for it.  I hope in our way, we fight for our freedom every day - whether we are on a physical front line or sharing how important our freedoms are with all those around us!