Happy Thanksgiving

Rebecca really wanted to do some ice skating for a while now, so why not do it on Thanksgiving Day?

My legs are feeling it. I haven’t been on ice in about five years, inline skates for about two. It took me about five minutes to get back into the groove, but it all came back to me pretty quick. Quick stopping, cross-overs, and skating backwards? We’ll save that for next time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all celebrating this American holiday, but we’ll be throwing some Canadian spice into today. Canucks play Nashville late this afternoon, right at the same time that the KC Chiefs kickoff at home against Denver. How much better can today get? Lamb roast. We’re skipping the turkey.

Remembering veterans on both sides

I’ve always grown up with Memorial Day[wiki] being the one day of the year where we take a moment to remember those who have fallen in various conflicts. Believe it or not, it was marching band in high school that taught me the impact of observing that day. It wasn’t the marching in the parade we had to do. It was the one football game where a handful of us started playing Taps when our team was blowing out the opposition in the second half of the game. A stupid thing to do, but we were young. That didn’t stop Mr. Russel from, politely, chewing a few of us out. Thankfully I got this information second hand.

Here in B.C., November 11th isn’t just a bank holiday. The mail still doesn’t arrive, much like Veterans Day[wiki] in the states. However, there is heart felt observance of what is called Remembrance Day[wiki] here. Most of the province gets the day off work, and there are numerous events that take notice for those who this day is reserved for.

Other than the standards I already mentioned, there isn’t much more that observes veterans from conflicts past in the states. I think that’s why I find the observance here somewhat intriguing. That’s not to say that the political debate doesn’t get in the way of everything, and trying to do something to this extent would get the stiff arm in today’s contentious climate for the U.S., at least on a national scale.

I know I’m late to the post here, but Rebecca has been so busy lately that we just did our best to enjoy her down time over the weekend. I will say that I have a lot of veterans of various conflicts in my family. My grandfather, uncle, great uncle, cousins, and even my brother, and some of them are still active(two extended family members caught up in Iraq right now). You always remember.