I can tell it is spring at last outside. The baby animals are showing up. We saw several baby animals (or hints of future baby animals) this past week. Baby #1: Fawn The first was a young fawn in the hay field across the road from our house last Sunday. Something in the grass appeared to fascinate him, because he circled around one area for quite awhile. When he got spooked, he bounced a few feet away on gangly legs which seemed to have springs in them, then came back to that spot a few minutes later. I didn’t see the mama deer; she was probably in the nearby trees keeping an eye on her baby. Babies #2: Ducklings Then a few days later, I stopped at an intersection on the edge of town and saw four little ducklings trying to cross a busy road. Luckily, the first car they encountered also saw them. It stopped and waited for them to cross its lane. I held my breath for a few minutes as they crossed the second lane. But the cars whizzing by managed to avoid them. When they were safely on the other side of the road, I also had a break in traffic and was able to continue on my way. Babies #3: Kittens The next day, I glanced out a window at our back yard, and saw a familiar stray white cat. This wild cat has been hanging around for more years than I would expect for a cat living outside on its own wits. But this time, she looked different. Judging by the larger-than-normal belly she was displaying, I suspect we will have some baby kittens around in the near future. Babies #4: Turtles Last evening was the final encounter. I looked out another window, and saw a mama turtle preparing to lay a batch of eggs about ten feet from our front door. She had already dug a hole by the time we noticed her, and was in the process of filling it with white eggs. Then it took about another hour of laboriously using her rear legs to cover the eggs with dirt before she was done. She crawled (fairly quickly, I would think, for a turtle) across our driveway to the trees on our side property line, and disappeared. All of these special sightings served to remind me how amazing Mother Nature can be. Now that the weather is finally getting better, the animals are having the babies which will assure the continuation of their kind. How smart of them to wait until winter is long gone!
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As we all know, this past Monday was Memorial Day. Last week, our local paper ran a special article which really brought the meaning of the day home to me. Titled “Why We Can Never Forget,” it was an article about the 56 men from our rural county who died in World War II. A member of the county historical society spent the last year researching these men. Five were highlighted in the newspaper. Reading the short profiles was so sad. The first thing which struck me was how young they all were. The ages for the five men ranged from 18 to 28. Correction. The youngest was still about a month shy of his 18th birthday when he died. He was one of the many eager heroes who lied about his age in order to enlist. The second thing that struck me was how much living they willingly gave up to serve and ultimately die for their country. The oldest of the five, at 28, was the only one married. The 23-year-old planned to get married to his sweetheart on his next leave home. The two youngest both dropped out of high school to enlist. Only think of everything they never got a chance to do. And yet, in one sense, there is nothing special about these valiant young men. They are merely a sampling of the thousands of men across the country doing exactly the same thing back then. There were thousands of young men around the U.S. dropping out of school, leaving their sweethearts behind, quitting their jobs, or kissing their wives and children good-bye before they left to fight the Axis Powers. Their determined bodies held more heart and courage and honor than we can begin to comprehend. So I hope you did more than break out the grill this past Memorial Day. I hope you at least paused for a few moments to reflect on all of the courageous men and women who have given everything they have in service of their country. Not just from World War II, but from all of the wars and conflicts our country has endured. And I hope your appreciation for their sacrifices extends beyond one day in May. My hope is that you always remember, and find ways to thank their families and counterparts today. The smallest act of kindness and thanks can go a long ways. I am keeping the article from our local newspaper. It helps to remind me “Why We Can Never Forget” our military heroes. God bless them all. |
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December 2022
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