Mothers day

I hate apostrophes.  Never quite sure when and how to use them.

Sunday was the first Mother's day in years that I hadn't seen my gramma.  The day before I was at a funeral for a dear friends dad.

 Zac is currently no longer in the 'safe part' of the middle east.  He is now in the 'safe part' of Afghanistan.  One of the other ladies at the funeral also has a son in Afghanistan but her son is an actual riffle toting soldier.

My friends dad was a retired air-force guy.  He served in Vietnam.  The funeral had young air-force guys (Do you call all air-force personal airmen?  We call navy folks sailors even if they have never been on a boat so I imagine even non pilots would be called air-men?)  Anyway - these young men played taps and folded the flag and presented it to the grandson.  I was sad for my friends loss but was unprepared for the extreme grief I felt for the whole war thing.  I am not a peacenik by any means but, and this was not a funeral for a person killed in a war but I nonetheless found my heart breaking a little bit.  So I took a deep breath and looked down.  There was one of those flat grave markers near my feet (I hate being at a graveside service and trying not to stand on a persons grave but not being sure where they exactly are.)  So this grave marker has a pot of flowers on it covering the last name and the final date; but the first name and the year of birth were the same as my dads.

I am so very fortunate to have both my parents and to have never lost a child. . .  but my deep gratitude is always lined by an equally deep fear.

My gramma lived to be 88 which is something.  So I miss her and was sad to not have another mothers day with her but am grateful for the family that is alive and thrilled that we all love each other.