Today, we remember

Today is Memorial Day, a day of remembrance and honor. We spent the day in Senoia, a small town not too far from us that throws a big Memorial Day hoohah in their three block downtown. It was small town Americana at its best: hot dogs sold by Boy Scout troops, ice cream churned by church groups, all kinds of vendors, pony rides and those inevitable bothersome clowns.

But the highlight of the day was the parade. It was led off by a police cruiser and a fire truck, followed by all manner of vehicles and people. There was a small army marching band, a color guard, cart loads of veterans from WWII, Korea and Vietnam, local military personnel home on leave, little girls twirling batons and, of course, Shriners.

It was schmaltzy and cute and patriotic and touching and fun and everything that is good about small towns and true patriotism wrapped up in one day. There were no politicians mouthing platitudes nor was there any kind of loud, "aren't we superior" boasting; it was just simple people showing their pride and gratitude in a pure, kind, loving way.

It was a good day - a good day to wave the flag, to wipe away a tear or two, to smile at cute children. All that was missing was the ubiquitous beauty queen. This is Georgia, for goodness' sake - there should always be a beauty queen!

Whose Mom?

When I went to the Mother's Day tea in Aidan's class two weeks ago, the wall outside the classroom displayed decorated cut outs and information about all the mothers of the students - but with no names displayed.

We were challenged to find the figure and list that represented each of us. We had a good time reading all the lists and the information our children said about us.

And while some of us found our children's work rather quickly, others were puzzled; until the lists came home on Friday, some of them may never have figured it out!

I like that Aidan thinks I am 50 feet tall and only 60 pounds in weight! One child said his/her mother weighed 6000 pounds, so I got off easy. But I was surprised at some of his answers...for example, my favorite place to go is a Mexican restaurant? Certainly I like Mexican food but I rarely go out for it. And "cleaning" is my favorite hobby? Definitely NOT and one look at our house should prove that to be true.

He got it right when he decorated my cut out with a sparkley necklace and a big honkin' gemstone on my finger! And although I take issue with my nose, I have long taken issue with my actual nose so maybe he did get it right.

And at least he didn't list my favorite TV show as "Jerry Springer", as one of the students did!