What Remembrance Day means to me .... now

[Skylark]

Every Remembrance Day, I think of my Grandfather who fought in a Canadian Regiment on Vimy Ridge.
"Gunga" (that was my childhood name for him) showed me once the machine gun bullet scare he'd received in his leg during that battle.
A wound that sent him back home and to a peaceful life in Canada where he raised five children.
I, being too young at the time, took little interest and the significance of that moment was lost on me.
I was far too save in my own life to appreciate the poignancy of that moment and never asked him about his experiences.
This is one of the many great regrets in my live. He passed away in 1968.
A great opportunity lost. His story untold.
Now when I attend each year's Remembrance Day Vigil.
I think of him and how "Brave" and how strong his sense of "Duty" must have been for him
to face whose guns on that April day when he stepped out into "No man's Land" for King and Country.
I have always felt a great sadness and deep sense of loss each and every Remembrance Day.

Today, my thoughts have turned more towards the present, on this November 11th.
Thoughts of the 97 Canadian soldiers who's lives were lost in Afghanistan and for my son.
Who is now a Captain in the Canadian Forces stationed at CFB Petawawa.
Who, through his own sense of "Duty", has volunteered and recently trained
to go over to that distant land much like his Great Grandfather did in 1917.
And I feel immensely proud of him.
Proud of his "Bravery" and his inner sense of "Duty".
However, as his father, I also have a great fear that grows inside me.
A deep seeded fear I have never felt before.
Fear for my son's life and safety.
Today, I again feel that same "sense of loss and sadness" for the past
but now I feel both "Pride" and "Fear" for the future,
my son's future, on this particular November day.....