This morning I went with my friend Susan to the Remembrance Day ceremonies at The Convention Centre. My take on the whole ceremony is that I never really know how I'm going to react during the whole ceremony. I tend to stay in observer/reflective-mode... while trying to hold any emotions inside of me. Today's ceremony didn't cause the stirring things within me to overflow; as was the case last year - last year I openly shed tears. I think that it's okay to react either way. Today's Remembrance Day ceremony made me keenly aware of the fact that the grieving process really never ends. Or maybe it isn't allowed to end because of the yearly reminder. Although there will always be yearly reminders other than Rembrance Day for others who have lost a parent. And it isn't about me anyway. I do know that I will always wonder what it would have been like to have had my birth-father as I was growing up. As a little kid, I was acutely aware of the fact that he just wasn't there because he was dead. I was going to list examples of my friends with their dads and my inner reaction at those times, but ... that's rather redundant. Even as a child though, I was always aware that he will have experienced pain as he died. As I was sitting through the Remembrance Day Ceremony today, I would occasionally look over the crowd around me and wonder how many of them were 'once a kid just like me' - I think it'd be interesting to hear other's stories. But life is life, isn't it? We move forward and things hit each of us differently at various times. I find it interesting that the Bible is quoted and Christian hymns are sung at such a public event as Remembrance Day. As a Christian, I am well aware that there may eventually be opposition to that. This past week, someone at my workplace emailed a video to each of us in our office - A Pittance In Time by Terry Kelly. I'd hear it playing here and there and find that sadness would threaten to overtake me. ( Back in June, I placed the video onto Youtube and then on to my myspace page. If you aren't able to find it there, then here's the Youtube page. ) My birth father's name was John Hugh McKenna. He was born in Rutherglen, a small town outside Glasgow, Scotland. He died during a Training Mission while at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick in Canada. He was 29 years old.
11/11/06
Remembrance Day - John Hugh McKenna and me.
This morning I went with my friend Susan to the Remembrance Day ceremonies at The Convention Centre. My take on the whole ceremony is that I never really know how I'm going to react during the whole ceremony. I tend to stay in observer/reflective-mode... while trying to hold any emotions inside of me. Today's ceremony didn't cause the stirring things within me to overflow; as was the case last year - last year I openly shed tears. I think that it's okay to react either way. Today's Remembrance Day ceremony made me keenly aware of the fact that the grieving process really never ends. Or maybe it isn't allowed to end because of the yearly reminder. Although there will always be yearly reminders other than Rembrance Day for others who have lost a parent. And it isn't about me anyway. I do know that I will always wonder what it would have been like to have had my birth-father as I was growing up. As a little kid, I was acutely aware of the fact that he just wasn't there because he was dead. I was going to list examples of my friends with their dads and my inner reaction at those times, but ... that's rather redundant. Even as a child though, I was always aware that he will have experienced pain as he died. As I was sitting through the Remembrance Day Ceremony today, I would occasionally look over the crowd around me and wonder how many of them were 'once a kid just like me' - I think it'd be interesting to hear other's stories. But life is life, isn't it? We move forward and things hit each of us differently at various times. I find it interesting that the Bible is quoted and Christian hymns are sung at such a public event as Remembrance Day. As a Christian, I am well aware that there may eventually be opposition to that. This past week, someone at my workplace emailed a video to each of us in our office - A Pittance In Time by Terry Kelly. I'd hear it playing here and there and find that sadness would threaten to overtake me. ( Back in June, I placed the video onto Youtube and then on to my myspace page. If you aren't able to find it there, then here's the Youtube page. ) My birth father's name was John Hugh McKenna. He was born in Rutherglen, a small town outside Glasgow, Scotland. He died during a Training Mission while at CFB Gagetown, New Brunswick in Canada. He was 29 years old.
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