The cruel war is raging.

Happy Memorial Day!

Today was a beautiful, American day.

There ain't no doubt I love this land:

This morning,

I ate breakfast at Denny's.

I listened to patriotic music,

especially Civil War songs.

(Gotta take the holiday back to its roots, yo.)

I felt like both a Yankee

and a Reb.

I tied a red bandana in my hair. 

With my chambray shirt,

I looked like a less terrifying Rosie the Riveter.

Allyson & I went to the other side of the lake,

where I've never been.

I love the wide-open promise 

of a quiet country landscape.

We visited a Civil War encampment,

a historical inn,

a one-room schoolhouse.

We bought those olde time candy sticks--

root beer flavored, of course.

We went to an old military cemetery,

where all the headstones said "Unknown."

We drove home,

got 50-cent slurpees,

played four-square

and badminton

and bocce ball,

and swung on swings

into the blue sky of evening.

Melissa gave us chicken and dumplings.

I read My Antonia aloud to Genevieve.

And I thought about how dyin is sometimes

more important than livin--

when it's for something that really matters.

To this nation,

and to its noble dead,

I give my heart.