Category: holidays

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A Month of Me: Day 29 – Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day.  I didn’t know that when I woke up this morning, but I know it now.  Memorial Day is a special day when, as a country, we honor all of those men and women who have given their lives in service protecting the freedoms of all people.  Mr. Guy told me how many Americans have died during all of the wars in which America has been involved…about 660,000 battle deaths.  That is a lot of people!  It makes me sad.  I don’t like wars.  I don’t like people killing people.  Supposedly sometimes wars are necessary, but I don’t really understand why that is.  Maybe when I am a grown-up monster I will understand this better.

This evening The Lady and Mr. Guy took me to a park in our city.  It is called Liberty Plaza.  It is where we can go to say thank you to all those that have died in the service of our country.  There is a great big flag pole, some plaques, and some statues in the park.  The statue above is The Lady’s favorite.  She explained that when a serviceman or service woman has dies and is buried, their casket is draped with an American flag.  At the end of the service, the flag is folded and presented to the family.  The Lady got a flag like this at The Captainb’s funeral and Mr. Guy got one at his father’s funeral too.  They keep their folded flags in special triangle shaped boxes.

Even though this is just a statue, it makes me cry thinking about all of the little boys and girls whose moms and dads are killed during wars.  I hope that some day there will be no more wars and children whose parents serve in the armed forces won’t have to be scared that their moms and dads won’t ever come home again.

I do want to say “THANK YOU” to all of those men and women who serve our country and also to their families.  The sacrifices that they all make are tremendous, the breadth of these sacrifices is unimaginable for most people.

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A Month of Me: May 14 – Mothers Day

The two human offspring and I spent the afternoon telling The Lady how much we appreciate her having taken care of all of us.  We all want to wish The Lady and all moms and mom figures a happy Mothers Day.  We know that being a mom is not an easy job, but someone has to do it!  

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Mr. Guy’s Birthday

Today is Mr. Guy’s birthday.  That means that today he got to do lots of special stuff.  The Lady gave him some presents to open this morning.  They went out to lunch because his computer gave him lots of pieces of paper that he said would turn into free food because it is his birthday.  I guess on your birthday you get magical powers that turn paper into food.  The Lady made him some special flavored popcorn and Offspring No. 1 made him a blackberry pie.  Tonight we went out to dinner with our friends Mr. Jim, and Mr. Sepherson.  The restaurant gave Mr. Guy a free piece of cocnut pie even though he did not have any magic paper with him.  He shared his pie with me, maybe so that I could practice  eating for my birthday that is next week.   I hope that I get magic paper on my birthday too!   I would like some of my magic paper to turn into t-shirts instead of all food!

I learned today why people get bigger as they grow up.  It’s easy.  On your birthday you get lots and lots of food and that makes you grow bigger and bigger!  I want to have lots of birthdays so that I will grow up to be a great big blue and orange furry monster!

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A Month of Me – Day 29

Mr. Guy is home again tomorrow! Yay! He tells me that it is a holiday called Memorial Day. It is the day we remember all the people who have died in wars fighting to protect our country and our freedom. 
I don’t like the idea of fighting and dying. But Mr Guy says sometimes bad people attack people and the people attacked have to fight to defend themselves. And sometimes people die fighting. I think it would be better if we all just lived peacefully. But I understand what Mr Guy means. I know I would fight if someone attacked The Lady, Mr Guy, Offspring 1 or Offspring 2. 
The Lady and Mr Guy took me to Liberty Plaza today. Liberty Plaza is a big park that is near where we live. 
It is a place to created especially to remember all those people who died, or who fought and did not die, protecting our country’s freedom. Mr Guy told me there are people still serving and fighting in places all over the world. We should always remember them too and keep them in our prayers. 
Liberty Plaza is a pretty  place. There is a big American flag… 


…and a couple of special statues. 
One of the statues made me a little sad.  My eyes got blurry because of the rain on the outside and maybe a little because of rain that was coming from my eyes.
The statue was of a little boy holding and American flag perfectly folded in a triangle with the stars on the outside.  I recognized that flag.  When The Captain died, The Lady got a flag just like that so I knew that it meant that that little boy’s father or mother was killed in a war.  
We have two folded flags at our house – The Captain’s and Mr. Guy’s father’s.  I’m glad that we have them.  They remind me every day to say a special prayer for all of our armed services men and women.
The other statue is of a veteran from World War I.
He has poppies in his hand.   These help him to remember all of his comrades with whom he served, but did not come home.  When we got home, The Lady and Mr. Guy read this poem to me; it tells the story of the poppies.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

– Colonel John McCrae

That is a lot for a little blue and orange furry monster to think about.

Mostly Liberty Plaza is a quiet place where we can go to think about and say “thank you” to all those people who have given  their lives in the service of our country. 

It was raining today, so we did not get to spend much time just sitting, but I’m glad that we went.