First off, I have to say thank you to all those real widows of soldiers, the ones who lost their lives while defending our freedom. I am grateful to the veterans, of couse, especially those who died while in service. But I also have to say thanks to the families of those soldiers, who also paid a price for their sacrifice. I call myself a fishing widow and hunting widow, but I know I would be lost without my wonderful husband -- even though I sometimes complain on this blog. My tongue-in-cheek moniker is a reality to the true widow.
Memorial Day doesn't get ther respect it deserves. I'm guilty of it as well, thinking of the day as a three-day weekend and a chance to get away, rather than a tribute to the men and women who have died while serving this country.
Perhaps then it was out of guilt that I agreed to a compromise when it came to making plans for Memorial Day. I was thinking a trip to Orlando to play in the theme parks. My husband was thinking three days of fishing. We agreed to a compromise.
I agreed to go on the boat, with book in hand, for a jaunt on the ocean, while he could fish. I even agreed to go camping for the three days so he could have easy access to the boat launch. I was looking forward to the weekend, thinking at least it was a chance to escape work and stress for three days. Because I like camping, my husband does most of the work because I still can't manage to light a camp fire or put together a lantern. I have become handy with a tent and usually tell my husband the best way to set it up. And, I figured I could sit and relax in quiet solitude while my husband and son took the boat to fish.
But as it turns out, we didn't go anywhere this weekend. My husband caught a cold earlier in the week and still wasn't better by the weekend. I grumbled a bit (OK, a lot) because I know he went out fishing in the afternoons when he should have been resting. And because I no longer was looking forward to the weekend. Believe me, three days cooped up with a sick fisherman who can't go fishing is no picnic.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Our Memorial Weekend wasn't very exciting either. Weather was perfect for fishing, but as usual boyfriend was busy helping everyone else with projects. He is the 2nd oldest of 15 children. Not a typo, there really were 15 kids in his family. He was the oldest boy of a farmer so he earned quite a reputation for being the hard-working farmer's son. That reputation has survived to this day. Whenever anyone needs help with something, guess who they call. He complains, that he never makes plans; other people make plans for him. I tease him because he can't say "no". I often feel jealous, because it seems like I'm the only person he can say no to. Did get a little riding on the Harley and we went out for fish fry on Friday and breakfast on Memorial Day. Your husband lets you bring a book along fishing? My boyfriend won't allow it. If I go along fishing, I actually have to fish. We don't camp much either, cause most of our friends own these big luxury campers and we feel a little out of place with our tent. Besides the mosquitos are too bad up here in the summer. They practically eat you alive. I can't believe you could go camping in Florida in May though. Isn't just ungodly HOT? Lived in Southern Georgia about two years, Ft. Stewart (ex-military). Thought I would die every time I stepped outside from May through September. My boyfriend could never handle the Florida heat. He even has central air conditioning in his garage. Course he also has a kitchen in his garage. It's his man cave. It's decorated entirely with photos and mounts of all his kills. Can't wait for that bear skin rug to go on the wall this fall. Memorial Day around here was pretty much devoted to memorializing a local soldier who was killed in the shooting at Ft. Hood last November. She was my son's fiance's sister. My son and his fiance just had a baby in March and they named him after her. Was such a tragedy how those 13 soldiers died. Who would ever have thought that they'd be killed by one of their own.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your son's fiance's sister. That was really a tragedy. I'm afraid that the war is seriously affecting many of our soldiers. When they come back, they just aren't the same. It happened to my uncle. I think they see too much and experience too much over there. Such a shame.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Florida camping, I pretty much melt in the summers anyway. More than 10 years living in Florida and I still haven't gotten used to it. But I got accustomed to camping in the summer and heat back in 2004 when we had back-to-back hurricanes. We were out of electricity for about two weeks after the first, got it back just in time to hear the warnings about the second. That took three weeks to get the electricity on. I've actually never gone during this time of year, so it will be interesting. Husband is still sick, so we haven't done much of anything lately.