Sunday, November 10, 2013

Veterans Day - 2013 - A Poem Remembering

Adam - Meal after Mike's Last Walk
Adam Dickmyer was killed three years ago - the first casualty of the wars who we knew - the first military funeral we have attended - experienced the sad expression on a widow's face. Times to remember. We have been a military family for ten years: one son an Army Veteran, a second a deployed Navy pilot. I assume there are ways parents are affected by their Veteran children's responses to the conflicts caused by our broken world. Adam's death sent our family into a journey we hadn't expected - our Veteran son was safe his time in the Army - so we thought. A year ago was a period with months added to months of times before, and times of months since, that have consumed our thoughts - the consequences of military conflicts that may not be seen, may not be so obvious as the final losses of ultimate sacrifices.

Veterans Day 2013 – A Poem Remembering

The evening paper in its plastic sleeve rests on the driveway concrete,
Touching the grass lawn skirt at the edge.
It’s 2:00 AM, February 1.
I had just driven home from the airport –
A short, two-night business trip to cold St. Paul,
And now home – the house is empty.

The paper lying there was a novelty –
Knowing she wouldn’t be home for a while –
My wife put on a delivery hold starting December 10.
With all that was planned in the upcoming weeks,
And the unknowns:
Navy Winging Ceremony in Corpus Christi,
A granddaughter’s birthday,
And a month later a grandson’s, too,
Christmas in Oregon,
All my comings and goings for work travel,
Uncertainties, our Army Veteran son
Set up with a new psychiatrist –
Our frail hopes already worn thin the past two years,
His frail hopes worn far worse than ours’– close to being gone;
At that time, the beginning of February
Seemed far enough out to resume delivery.

She comes home tomorrow night.
It’s been a long time since we sat together in our house,
Reading the paper.

February 3, 2012 
__________________________
April 21, 2015. It was not acknowledged by The Veterans Administration that our son was suffering from a service-related condition until the end of May 2014. 

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