5/17: At The Bottom Of The Ramp, Waiting For My Daughter

Monday, May 17, sometime between 8:00 and 8:15 pm, I was standing next to a stage in the athletic center of Valparaiso University, holding a bouquet of roses. My daughter Gigi was in a line on the other side of the stage, waiting her turn to cross the stage, shake hands with the chancellor of Purdue University North Central, and receive her bachelor's degree.

I had time for memories, fleeting impressions:

• October 4th, 1988 - a shell-shocked afternoon, after the doctor told us that Suzanne's last non-stress test didn't look so good, and we needed to come in the next day to have labor induced.
• October 5th - a blur, from getting up, to arriving at the hospital, to the start of labor, to the maternity nurse being 7 months pregnant herself, to the doctor dealing with us and another patient in labor, to the arrival.
• October 6th - after a night in a cramped recliner, I went home to wash up and change. The fall sky and the turning leaves were more vibrant than I had ever seen before.
• Gigi, at two years old, running to me across a playground with her arms held high to be picked up and hollering, "Hold you!"
• Gigi, at seven, clinging to me and crying like she's never stopping after being told that her mom and I weren't going to be living together anymore (Nobody said all the memories were happy).
• My pride in Gigi as her participation in high school show choir gave her a world of confidence and made her bloom.
• Taking her, during a Christmas visit, to the empty parking lot at work and having her practice driving a car with a manual transmission.

And then she was coming across the stage, holding her newly minted degree, stopping at the top of the ramp for a picture, then coming down the ramp, approaching me. I handed her the roses, we hugged, and she whispered, "Thanks, Dad, I love you."

As I walked back to the stands, my ex-wife gave me a thumbs up. My wife gave me a knowing smile, and she was entitled. I bought the flowers and gave them to Gigi, but they were Lisa's idea.

Gigi kiddo, congratulations. We love you.

Memorial Day

• Don Ward, United States Army.


• E.A. "Red" Elixson, United States Navy.


• H.A. Mathis, United States Army.


• Huston White, United States Army.


• Kenneth White, Army National Guard.


• Wendell Ball, United States Army.


• Jeff Justice, United States Marines.

These are a few of my family and friends I have known who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America, and to each of them on this, the eve of Memorial Day 2010, I say thank you for your service. For your sacrifice. But, Memorial Day is not about you. You all came home.

Memorial Day is about 58,261 names on The Wall. It is about 125,000 tombstones in 24 overseas military cemeteries. It is about the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Memorial Day is not about trips to the beach, barbecues, or a three day weekend. It is about remembering those warriors who gave, in Lincoln's phrasing, the "last full measure of devotion".

Go find a soldier today and thank him or her. This explains it pretty well.

Oops...

This was the cake delivered to a reception hosted by Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)to honor Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox during the Braves recent visit to D.C. to play the Nationals:





There's more detail here. Wonder what that caterer could do with my name?