I have memories as a young child of many visits to my maternal grandparents’ home in Scranton, PA. Their house seemed enormous to me and contained many rooms. There was one room that was a mystery to my siblings, cousins and myself. The door was always closed, and we were told to stay out. We never even tried to see if the door was locked, we were just told to stay out, the subject was not to be brought up and was non-negotiable as far as my grandparents, mother, aunts and uncles were concerned. To this day, I have no idea what the inside of the room behind the closed door looked like.
Many years later, my mother told me that room was her brother’s bedroom. PFC Erwin Micks was killed in the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. I was then showed newspaper clippings from during the war, one reporting how all three of her brothers were serving at the same time, two in the pacific and Erwin in the European Theater. The second article was one reporting Erwins death. My grandmother never came to terms with the loss of her son.
Fast forward to 2012, and my wife and I have three beautiful daughters, two are serving in the US Army. One day the phone call came that our youngest daughter was in a terrible car accident while coming home on leave.
It is now 2024 and we understand my grandmother’s grief. The loss of a child, no matter the circumstances, is not something you ever “get over”. It is a wound that never heals. At times, it will scab over, and you think you will be OK. Then something comes along and tears that scab off and you must try and start the healing process again.
I find solace in my belief that as God’s children on this Earth, we are incapable of understanding his plan for us. The best we can do is to accept it, and accept it is all I can do!
Please, do enjoy your long weekend, picnics, and time with family and friends today. For my wife and I, we did that two days ago, today we will be once again shedding tears at a certain grave at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. There will be others there doing the same.
Maybe, if it’s not raining, when I get home later, I will head to the club and send some lead downrange. That always seems to clear worries from my mind!
Wayne
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