Mick McKellar Update--Day +98
Memorial Day: The intrepid walkers could not sit inside and watch the day pass us by, so we meandered on up to Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial to watch the Memorial Day ceremony. The space that was empty and peaceful yesterday, was packed with veterans and their families, the Lourdes High School band, assorted dignitaries, and onlookers. We remained outside the enclosed court and peered over the wall with several hundred others.
The band played and we sang patriotic songs. Multiple color guards marched in with flags and great ceremony. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was read by a high school student, and a moving speech was delivered by a local minister. It was small town America paying homage to its honored dead, and celebrating the lives of its surviving veterans.
I spent part of my time silently thanking my brother/donor, Kevin. He was career military, a veteran of the Gulf War, and he offered me life directly, from his own blood and marrow. It was fitting we should attend the ceremony and offer a prayer or two of thanks.
I was never given the opportunity or privilege of serving in the military, although I tried four times to enlist. My health and the damage to my feet and hands from a childhood injury combined to give cause for my rejection by Air Force, Army, and Navy.
And the weather cooperated...
Today was a summer day. It is still partly cloudy and 87 degrees outside our windows at 4:10 PM. A hazy, lazy day with sufficient humidity to dissuade one from moving too fast, but with a steady breeze to cool, we spent a wonderful hour or so in the garden at Gift of Life. Marian picked a bench in full sun and soaked in as much as she could. I grabbed a good book and rocked in the shade on the veranda. (My rash does not like full sun, and several medications warn against exposure to direct sun, so I stayed in the shade.) Despite the necessity of the Darth mask, it was great,
My rash is still there, though I swear it looked better this morning. Tomorrow morning is a test day, so we should get some results from the lab, however my doctor will not see us until Thursday. Day 100 will pass, but we will not yet be headed home. The mystery of the murdered red cells remains, and does my remarkable rash.
The account of our visit to the Memorial Day ceremonies is in today's poem, Memorial Day 2011, below. Our thanks for all your communications is in our hearts. Your prayers and good thoughts have helped us tremendously.
God bless and good evening,
Mick
And now, Memorial Day 2011
Memorial Day was never just a day off work for my family, because so many members of my family were in the service...all but me, actually. Medical and health issues kept me from service, but never diminished the pride I feel for those who served.
This year, we're in Rochester, MN, at Mayo Clinic, and I cannot be with my family. We attended the Memorial Day ceremonies at Soldiers Field Veterans Memorial, and I found it moving and reassuring to see a community give honor and recognition to its veterans, both the living and the lost. The memorial is a beautiful structure of granite walls, etched with battle scenes from all major U.S. wars. The memorial was packed, so I stood outside, peering over a wall, with several hundred other visitors and veterans. Their solemnity and pride made this a special Memorial Day.
Mick
Memorial Day 2011
I watched them march, peering over the wall,
The proud veterans and their families.
They were gathered together, one and all,
For music, and singing, and homilies,
Recounting the valor and sacrifice,
And the giving of the last full measure,
By their sons and daughters, in the service
Of their country's freedom, timeless treasure
Requiring constant vigilance as cost.
Their faces, unsmiling, were filled with pride,
Through speeches focused on those that were lost,
In wars where their young neighbors fought and died.
I stood and I watched, an unremarked guest,
As they remembered their brightest and best.
Mick McKellar
May 2011