It is all quiet outside my window this first three day weekend that marks the start of summer holidays and travel. It is a quiet time ripe for looking back and thanking those who gave us a better future.

Bob Dole, now nearing 90, is one who credits tragedy with the life changing event that opened the door for his future. A farm boy from the western Kansas town of Russell, Dole joined the army at 19 and went to Italy to help drive Hitler’s forces to defeat.

He was badly wounded with the loss of a kidney, the use of one arm and spent three long years in the hospital. Never one to consider himself handicapped and never one to pity his fate, Dole is now “America’s veteran.”

Flags are flying outside my window to recognize this Memorial Day once the same day each May. Now it is another one of those Monday holidays that creates a three day weekend and the beginning of the summer vacation period.

Not that the celebration and honoring those who have died or risked their lives to make us safe is not still a prime reason for us to stop and say “Thank You” with a prayer on our lips.

Growing up prior to WW II, the military part of this holiday was not such a central part. November 11, then known as Armistice Day, marked the end of WW I and was also celebrated as Veterans Day. Wars were not so much of the daily concern as the Civil War and the Spanish  War were the only ones recognized for the previous century.