Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

This has been a varied Memorial Weekend over here at the Bruinmom's abode. Kids busy and traveling, are now home and preparing for the week ahead. Two to work, one to studies, and one to jury duty. The keys are now out of the car, thankyouverymuch, and the alarm is miraculously working again. Go figure how that all happened. The Dealership and Roadside assistance phone numbers are now loaded into the cell phone. Grandpa is doing well on his Chemo treatments and hasn't (knockonwood) felt any side effects. The purple blanket is coming along nicely after a bit of 'time out' in the corner for it's bad behavior.

I have a confession to make. I think I may have become a wee bit of a CNN junkie. It happened back during the Anna Nichole constant updates. (I know I know...like a train wreck, you couldn't stop looking at it.)

Anyway, last night while the house was quiet I turned on the tv and flipped over to CNN. They were re-running a special they had on the combat hospitals over in Iraq. Stories were told not just of the wounded, but also of the doctors and nurses who are working so far away from home and families. There was a time (fleeting as it was) where I considered going into nursing. Had it not been for the amount of math and oh ya, blood involved, it might have worked. NOT.

My grandmother was great as a nurse. I can do the listening, and the hand holding. I can't do the blood. Maybe that's why I was so glued to this program. These are men and women doing a job I certainly can't do. And I am thankful that they are doing it.

The longer it went on, and then repeated itself, all I could think about was the Ships Project and how I really need to get some more hats knitted up for the medical units. While the injured are being transported they're in planes that are cold. It's weighed on my heart this weekend.

A couple of years ago, before I got hurt, I was working with a group called Operation Interdependence ( http://www.oidelivers.org/ ) . I loved the work I did there. We would pack up 50 quart baggies with little things and letters in a box to ship over. Just before Christmas that year, I knit up 50 beanies to add for the winter time. My ortho doc said having that knitting goal was the best thing I could have done to regain my grip after falling. He doesn't understand. Having that goal made my time of laying in bed make me feel useful. I got more out of that than I think I ever gave to them.

So, today, while working in the garage, and remembering my Grandmother, being thankful for the time with my son yesterday, and my girls recently...I vowed to get some hats done for the troops. I can't be a nurse like my Grandmother could, but I can knit.

Now, if the people in my family would quit getting pregnant, I'll get some beanies done to send over for the medical units in remembrance of Grandma. And in honor of the Vets in my family. For a job well done!

Hope your weekend was productive and thoughtful in your households, too.