TWO DAYS BEFORE THE DAY

Thursday evening, nearly 11:00PM.
Late again.
And we are tired.
And the day, the week, have been busy. Good busy.

A few comments in no particular order.

b.o. is touring the Middle East and is making, apparently, mistake after mistake, misstep after misstep.
Maybe some good will come of all of them, or of some of them.
But my o my.

The historical spins; the partial histories; the perspective that a new US approach, more enlightened than those of all his predecessors will make sense of the Middle East puzzles boggles the mind.

Maybe he knows something that leaders have not known before.
Maybe.
Maybe not.

At any rate, we note that it is possible to compartmentalize one’s view of things.
Here at The Study we are immersed in things of Family; of community; and of Church.
There are whole hours that we do not think of what is going on in the outside world.
Flats of flowers have been purchased and planted – not the flats, but the flowers.

The koi are installed in their pond. Whew!!
Two summers ago we cleaned the pond and discoversd a large, ca. 6-8 inches in diameter, snapping turtle in our happy little koi pond of 13 fish. We thought he was a cutie until we started finding pieces of our fish floating in the pond.

We convened a trial; heard the evidence; found him guilty; and condemned him to transportation to the nearest lake.

Last summer came and went.

And yesterday, whilst cleaning the pond bottom, what I thought was a small rock became stuck in the pond vac.
The small rock was a small turtle.

We convened the court. Heard the evidence. Condemned him to transportation to the nearest lake.

And we are washing deck furniture; mowing; trimming; even washing screens and installing.

Again, whew!!
Dear Wife and Daughter have renewed a small garden by the Church parking lot.

And this Saturday two couples from my 50th Reunion will be here for dinner.

We reconnected ten years ago for our 40th.
We reconnected for our 50th.

And now we are having our first dinner together in one of our houses – ever.
We never got together in beteeen the Reunions.

Pathetic.

Friday we will clean and dust and arrange and stuff like that.
Today we did the grocery shopping – baby back ribs.

Bar is stocked.

Sophie Matilda is bathed. Her three beds have been washed.

And tomorrow errands are planned and more finishing touches are in store.

And so we put the affairs of the world on back burners.
We are not officeholders.

The world is not depending on us.

Lucky world!!

But another thing: today is 4 June, 2009.

It has been 65 years since the day called D, D-Day, 6 June 1944.

On and off, during the hurly burly, hereing and thereing [not words, I know] of the last few days, I have been wondering what we at The Study can say about this Day of Days.

Item: folks have been offering advice on books to read, movies to see to get an idea of what it must have been like to do what was done on that day and the days immediately following, 65 years ago.
One newspaper advised watching this or that Hollywood film –Longest Day; Saving Private Ryan; and several others.

Not the best choices.

I have looked in vain for a recommendation to view the best, the very best film available to get a sense of what happened on that summer morning so long ago.

No mention anywhere.

So here you have it: if it is rentable, rent it. If it is buyable, and it is, buy it.

But whatever you do, if you want to watch the best film ever made on the subject – that I have seen - get your hands on Band of Brothers.

Simply stated, there is nothing else like it.
It runs hours and hours. Watch it over the course of several nights.
Savor it. Feels the joys; fears; sorrows; relief; etc., all the panoply of feelings and emotions.

It is the best.

And you get a glimpse of what the survivors did after the War. The real vets do a bit of narraton throughout.

Check it out.
Get the book: Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose.
Paperback.

And meantime, whenever you seen a WWII era vet, recognizable by those baseball hats with military branch or whatever on it, thank him, usually a him, for his service.

I have yet to see an elderly lady wearing one of those hats.

But I would thank her if I did.

Let me know what you think.