New view of Memorial Day

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Of all the summer parades in the area, Celebrate De Pere on Memorial Day is easily my family’s favorite. And even as we’ve stood to applaud the flag and the retired military members who carry it down the street, I’ve never really wrapped my head around what it means to devote your life to our nation’s military. Don’t get me wrong: I have 100 percent respect and admiration for those who’ve served – most notably, my brother and my late grandfather. But admittedly for me, Memorial Day has always had predominant overtones of picnics, parades and a day off school.

Until this year.

On Monday, May 14, our oldest was sworn into the United States Marine Corps, and I became an instant military mom. Memorial Day will never be the same.

My stepson was only 5 years old when his father and I began dating. Now 21, he swears he doesn’t remember a time before I was in his life; I like to say the same back to him. But entering the military was never in my plan for him; I envisioned four years of college, a full-time job not too far away and, eventually, a wedding and couple of kids in a house with a white picket fence. But just as life doesn’t always go the way we anticipate for ourselves, the same is also true for our kids. His path, instead, has taken him to 12 weeks of boot camp in San Diego this summer. And after that? God only knows.

He no longer looks like the first-grader who held my wedding band when I married his father – the fun-loving kid who played soccer and chess, spent hours on his video games and never found a food he couldn’t pair with ranch dressing. Part of me can’t believe that the little boy who used to adore his Spider-Man pajamas and tell horrible knock-knock jokes is now a member of the U.S. Marines.

I think of the countless other mothers, stepmothers and grandmothers who have walked in my shoes before me, also incredulous as they watch their fun-loving sons and daughters grow from little kids into brave soldiers. Before this experience, I never stopped to think about all their emotions – fear, excitement, sadness, nervousness and overwhelming pride. My heart could nearly burst when I try to imagine their pain as those children they’ve loved and protected go off to fight for our country – some of whom, never to return. The loss is beyond comprehension.

So this year on Memorial Day, it’s going to be hard to fight back tears when I see our military marching in formation. I have an even more abundant amount of respect for the brave men and women who protect our country and our freedom every day – and just as much respect for their families back home.

So with watery eyes and a grateful heart, to all those brave souls in our United States military past and present, their families and especially their mothers – I salute you.

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Laura
Laura is a small-town Wisconsin girl who’s made her home in De Pere for the last 15 years. She has a journalism degree from UW-Oshkosh and works as a copy editor and freelance writer when she’s not working on a novel, running, or teaching yoga. Her family includes her husband, two daughters at home, and an adult stepson and daughter-in-law, both of whom serve our country in the U.S. Marine Corps. What I love most about living in this area: Visiting the Brown County libraries, running on the Fox River Trail and cheering for the Green Bay Packers!