Even though I have not posted in a while, I have been thinking long and hard about what to post for Remembrance Day.

What I wrote last year still resonates but I didn’t feel like rehashing what I had said and so was waiting for some inspiration.

Yesterday at the cenotaph, I saw something wonderful. A 94 year old Merchant Navy -turned- Royal Canadian Navy veteran stood from his chair with a mischievous look in his eye, and escorted by his grandchildren, went over to greet an elderly lady who had just laid a wreath for the women of Britain. He leaned over his cane and kissed her, smiling about how he was happy to see his girlfriend as he called her. Everyone thought it was great. A moment of happiness in amongst a sombre ceremony that showed that those who went before were so truly, wonderfully human. It makes their sacrifice even more laudable, as these were not all paragons, but rather ordinary people who answered the call and managed to do extraordinary things.

When the older veterans finally surrender the watch and join their fallen comrades, I will to go to the cenotaph and think not only of the horrors endured for us but of the smiling man, old only in body who, after winning his kiss, sat down in the sunlight with a tear in his eye.