Be Yours to Hold It High

2018 Trip to Mt. Hamilton

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Luke shared this poem to celebrate National Poetry Month. This was his email message and attachment:

"This is one of my favorite poems:

https://www.flandersfields.be/en/inspiration/poem-flanders-fields

I first read at the WWI museum in Kansas City (I swung by there after a work meeting) and highly recommend the museum.

"And speaking of WWI here’s the draft card for James J Murphy my great grandfather."

I love that Luke's poem is driving today's post! Thanks, Luke! A perfect example of connecting our family past, to now! I thought about family members that have served our country: Wayne, Terry Llewellyn, Steve Hauser, and my brother, Marty. They are our family heroes, and we thank them for their service! And during the war, Grandma Aggie worked in a factory in LA, and family members lovingly referred to her as "Rosie the Riveter".

We are in a very different war against this Coronavirus! Our current heroes are our nation's medical workers...putting themselves in harm's way to help us all!

I was struck with the line: "The torch; be yours to hold it high". I am hearing some wonderful stories about people helping each other out in these times...here are a few:

I met with my Bible group on Zoom last night, and one of the members was sharing about being of service to others during this time. She is a teacher, and was counting her blessings of having a paycheck coming in, and had called her hairdresser to offer to pay her, even though she could not receive her services at this time. She said that her hairdresser burst into tears with gratitude. 

A very good friend of mine's mother, Rosemary, is 90, and was recently moved to an assisted living home. She is from "Montana stock" and is one of  the most active and inspiring people I know! She was taking ukulele classes at her complex, along with a few other women. Since the "social distancing" began, Rosemary organized her fellow musicians to come out to their balconies and patios to join her for "a sing-along" at 12 noon (lunch-time) and 5:00 (cocktail hour) to serenade the other residents.... reminiscent of the people on their balconies in Italy! When we all met with Debbie on Zoom, and asked how her Mom was doing, she replied: "My Mom is doing great! She is a master quilter, and decided to make masks for the hospital workers and they have delivered 50 so far!"

Sean and I have a good friend, Mark, who we have known since college days. He owns a small restaurant in Ventura, and was talking with a fellow fraternity buddy, that it was a gut-wrenching decision to either let some employees go, or close altogether. His fraternity brothers "sent out the call" and set up an account for donations.... and so far, thanks to their generosity, Mark has been able to keep his restaurant open, and employees working to make food to go!

We saw on the news the other night that a woman in Washington DC started a project called "Feed the Fight" where people can donate to their favorite small restaurant and order a to-go meal that can be delivered to the hospitals to feed the doctors and nurses, as they work their long hours, and rarely have a moment to eat. A win-win for all!

My friend Flo is from New York, and posted on her Facebook page a picture of her "god-daughter"  that is a nurse in a hospital in NYC. She was holding up a boxes of protein bars that Flo had ordered from Amazon to be delivered to the hospital where her god-daughter is working round the clock through this crisis.

I'd love to share other stories of people carrying the torch!

LYM
Reenie