Kevin
and I were among the first to the funeral home.
We were both in Cub Scout attire.
Then Bill Lee arrived in his uniform.
The
family arrived early too. I just barely
had time to hand Kevin an assembled flag and send him running across the grass
to precede them to the door. A moment
later the rest of us joined him.
We
didn’t talk – neither of us was there to socialize – but I had heard about Bill
and I found his website. I’ll be voting for him.
Each
of us has our own reasons for standing.
We have diverse opinions about where we go from here. We don’t think alike. Americans don’t.
But
for a short time we are united in one effort:
We are proud of Matthew and grateful for his courage.
We
will vote tomorrow. We will pay taxes
tomorrow. We will build new weapons
systems tomorrow. It is the voting and
the taxes and the weapons of the past that placed Matthew in a dusty
It
would be a six-hour visitation – a long one.
Kevin and I would stay for an hour and then I had to take him home so he
could keep other commitments. Then I
would return.
When
I tell him that we are going flag-holding, he knows not to object even though
it is not as much fun as some alternatives available to him. He knows it’s important because I have said
so.
I
hope he will reach that same conclusion on his own when he is older.
In September,
2007 two years ago at another visitation, Ro put Kevin in charge of the
cooler. He has taken charge of the
bottled water ever since.
The
Commander and her Executive Officer review their troops.
We
didn’t have a Cub Scout function. I felt
it was a place and time for uniforms so I gave him a choice: Tae kwon do, army or Cubs.
He
chose Cubs so I wore my Den Leader shirt as you can see in the reflection.
Another
group of soldiers gathered in the parking lot.
They serve with Matthew’s brother Travis. It was not the expectation of rain that had
them wearing umbrellas on their heads – they are drill sergeants. I explained to Kevin that the army picks the
very best soldiers to use as examples for the new soldiers.
It is
with a sense of humility that I post our photos next to theirs.
I
drove Kevin home, changed my clothes, traded the truck for the bike and
returned. Rush hour traffic and rain
delayed me. When I made it back I learned
the Governor Quinn had attended the wake because he was unable to attend the
funeral, and I missed him.
The
last soldier pictured above is Drill Sergeant Cote. I took it after dark and you can see the rain
on his umbrel…his cover. I met his father
in East Peoria three months
ago. The sergeant said his father would
make the 170-mile trip and take a room so that he could stand at the funeral
the next day.
On
album of photography.
back to the Martinek mission