Wordless Wednesday: Love Delivered on D-Day

For the last thirty years I have really not liked this week.  For this week is the week when I laid my gentle giant to rest.  Each year, I sit quietly and mourn the loss that rocked my young world.  It's amazing that the tears still readily spring to my eyes as I relive this week over and over.

The stories of D-Day have always moved my soul to remember and to pray for our fallen military men.  What bravery they displayed on what had to be the most fearful day of their lives, and the day many would perish.  Can you imagine the the scene and how intense the smell of fear had to have been?

My dad was not at Normandy on that fateful day some 72 years ago.  Instead, he was busy fighting in the Pacific.

My dad did perish on the anniversary of D-Day.  For me, that is fitting as he was truly a brave patriotic man who had followed in the footsteps of love and loyalty his ancestors displayed as they fought for this great country.

Some 12 years ago, it was my honor to organize a family reunion at what I like to call my family cemetery, the St Clair Cemetery, in Mt. Lebanon, Allegheny, PA.  It was a beautiful day as descendants came from around the country to honor two of our fallen American Revolution ancestors.  Speeches were given, flags flew in the gentle breeze, hymns were sung, a 21 gun salute was fired, and Taps was heard as we all stopped to thank all brave men and women who have served America.

Around that time, the gent in charge of the cemetery asked permission to remove some overgrown daylilly plants from one of my family plots.  I gave permission but asked him to wait until I had time to take some for myself and any other family member who wanted a living remembrance of the past.  We dug those plants up and sent them to the south and out to the west to be planted, in addition to those plants which would stay in Pittsburgh.

This week, on D-Day, as I was feeling so very blue, I happened to walk outside.  I saw one beautiful bloom on my St Clair daylilly.  It was standing tall with its beautiful pale peach color and it stopped me in my tracks.

I don't think I have ever seen such a beautiful site that screamed out the words Faith, Belief, Loyalty and Love.  My head reverberated with these thoughts as I stood wordless and thirstily absorbed the undying love from my family members who have gone before me.

The next morning I went to take a picture of the beautiful flower.  It was gone.  Not wilted, but gone.  The message sent to me from beyond the grave on D-Day stays.  Faith, Belief, Loyalty and Love.

Ahh, genealogy.  Love lives and the past speaks leaving me wordless.

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