My annual Memorial Day thread (1 Viewer)

[sonicboom]

Many of my prayers have been answered, maybe not the way I expected them, but I liked the general direction. This is faith and can't be explained by logic or reason. The peace that faith in Jesus gives, is hard to relate to, when you don't believe. I have been on both sides, believing, and and an unbeliever; I have made my final decision, and will trust in the Lord.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

So since this thread got resurrected and is amazingly still going, I have another question. And I guess it's mostly for the nonbelievers: Do you ever "talk" to your dearly departeds?

And if you do and you don't believe in the afterlife, explain why you do this. (and that's not a veiled GOTCHA, I really just want to know if it's a universal thing because I've never questioned that before).

I'm posting it here because I realize I "talk" to my mom and dad almost as much as I "talk" to God. I'm trying to reconcile in my head if talking to God is the same as praying since my "prayers" meander and wind up being pretty much the same as "talks" .. if that makes sense.

I still have both of my parents
Lost my dad’s parents before my 20s
I was much closer with my mom’s parents, but no one can be considered ‘close’ in my family (my sister and mom are closest, but that mostly happened when my sister was already an adult and my mom leaned on her when dad's drinking got bad)

the only ritual thing I have is toasting my dads dad (adopted) with a Guinness every St Paddy’s day
I do ‘talk’ to him, but it’s his memory I’m addressing

 

[kizzy821]

I haven't lost anyone close enough to talk to after they're gone. But if I did, I assume it would be in the same way I "talk" to the idiot who cut me off or the way I talk to someone whose news story touches me.

I say things out loud ("jackarse"), I ask rhetorical questions ("Dude, where are you going"), I apologize ("I'm so sorry this happened to you"), and I make declarations ("I hate the human condition").

But not because I think they can hear me. That would freak me out.

Do they only hear what I want them to hear or are they listening all the time like Siri.

I participate in activities I don't want my grandparents listening to.

If I believed in the afterlife and that my dead loved ones could hear me, I would ask them to stop.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

So since this thread got resurrected and is amazingly still going, I have another question. And I guess it's mostly for the nonbelievers: Do you ever "talk" to your dearly departeds?

And if you do and you don't believe in the afterlife, explain why you do this. (and that's not a veiled GOTCHA, I really just want to know if it's a universal thing because I've never questioned that before).

I'm posting it here because I realize I "talk" to my mom and dad almost as much as I "talk" to God. I'm trying to reconcile in my head if talking to God is the same as praying since my "prayers" meander and wind up being pretty much the same as "talks" .. if that makes sense.

For some reason Kizzy’s post reminded me of my college girlfriend
She was half Japanese and we visited her mom on the coast and the mom had a Shinto shrine to the gf’s deceased father - the mom talked to the dad all of the time - the gf kinda did even though she didn’t really believe in Shinto

 

[Madmarsha]

I still have both of my parents
Lost my dad’s parents before my 20s
I was much closer with my mom’s parents, but no one can be considered ‘close’ in my family (my sister and mom are closest, but that mostly happened when my sister was already an adult and my mom leaned on her when dad's drinking got bad)

the only ritual thing I have is toasting my dads dad (adopted) with a Guinness every St Paddy’s day
I do ‘talk’ to him, but it’s his memory I’m addressing

It was only my grandfathers that were still alive in my lifetime, they died before I was 10, and I was never close to either. I don't "talk" to them. I've mentioned before that I imagine in my heaven, I can "go back" and meet my ancestors; but I also know that they will be strangers to me. Kinda like how at the end of Field of Dreams when Ray meets his dad at an age that's younger than Ray is now, they don't acknowledge the relationship but the actors make it look as though they both know.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

. Kinda like how at the end of Field of Dreams when Ray meets his dad at an age that's younger than Ray is now, they don't acknowledge the relationship but the actors make it look as though they both know.

EveryDangTime

 

[Madmarsha]

EveryDangTime

The other one that does it to me -- and, in fact, was the impetus to this question because I just caught the scene while my husband was watching it -- is the end of Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg does this great dissolve from Matt Damon's face to the actor playing the aged Private Ryan at the grave of Captain Miller and talking to him about how he's lived his life and hoped he was worth the sacrifice that Miller and the other guys that lost their lives saving him. And when he asks his wife, Am I a good man, I'm just done by that scene alone.

 

[HoustonSaint68]

EveryDangTime

My old man passed 13 years ago. Cancer, bad, and I was the one kinda interacting with him on his decision to just go and not try to eke out a few more months on a colostomy bag. I primarily handled all the arrangements and the legal stuff. I was sad, certainly, but no major emotional upheaval.

A few years later, I had just a couple of beers after work and put the TV on when I got home. Field of Dreams was on so I started watching. When it got to “ Wanna have a catch?”, I just completely lost my sheet. Didn’t even feel it coming, it was just there before I could stop it.

I didn’t share any heart-to-hearts with the old man when he was here, but God knows we threw a baseball back and forth about a million times. I don’t talk to him or any other deceased family members, but I do think about him a lot and thankfully remember him as a vital, middle-aged man and not the physical shell cancer made of him.

 

[Madmarsha]

On this Memorial Day weekend, please read and say the names of our fallen so they are not forgotten. These 3/5 Marines and Sailor below have made the ultimate sacrifice since 9/11/2001.

Cpl Johnathan L. Benson
LCpl Geofrey R. Cayer
Cpl Ross A. Smith
LCpl Benito A. Ramirez
SSgt Raymond J. Plouhar
LCpl Rex A. Page
Cpl Jason W. Morrow
PFC Javier Chavez Jr.
PFC Sean T. Cardelli
2ndLt James P. Blecksmith
SSgt Melvin L. Blazer Jr.
SSgt Gene Ramirez
Sgt Jeffrey L. Kirk
Cpl Michael D. Anderson Jr.
Cpl Joseph J. Heredia
Cpl Raleigh C. Smith
Cpl Jason S. Clairday
Cpl Shane E. Kielion
Cpl Ian W. Stewart
LCpl Victor R. Lu
LCpl George J. Payton
LCpl Antoine D. Smith
LCpl Christopher S. Adlesperger
LCpl Gregory P. Rund
LCpl Erick J. Hodges
LCpl Hilario F. Lopez
LCpl Eric D. Hillenburg
LCpl James R. Phillips
Maj Kevin Nave
SSgt Riayan A. Tejeda
Cpl Erik H. Silva
LCpl Daved E. Owens Jr
HM3 Michael V. Johnson
Sgt Jeremiah Callahan
Cpl Christopher Arzola
Cpl Jason Chleborad
LCpl Arden Buenagua
LCpl John Sparks
Cpl Justin Cain
PFC Victor Dew
LCpl Joseph Rodewald
LCpl Phillip Vinnedge
LCpl Alec Catherwood
LCpl Irvin Ceniceros
LCpl Joseph Lopez
LCpl James Boelk
Sgt Ian Tawney
LCpl Matthew Broehm
LCpl Brandon Pearson
LCpl Randy Braggs
2ndLt Robert Kelly
LCpl James Stack
Sgt Jason Peto
1stLt William Donnelly
Sgt Matthew Abbate
LCpl Kenneth Corzine
PFC Colton Rusk
Cpl Derek Wyatt
LCpl Jose Maldonado
Cpl Tevan Nguyen
Sgt Jason Amores

Laguna Hills Team Darkhorse

Laguna Hills Team Darkhorse, Laguna Hills, California. 2,616 likes · 87 talking about this. Our Mission is To Provide Encouragement, Relief and Comfort to the Marines/Sailors and their Families

www.facebook.com

 

[Madmarsha]

I was gonna rename this thread to "My Annual Memorial Day" thread or something but apparently it's been too long and I wasn't able to change it. But this, I guess, has now become my annual Memorial Day Thread.

Thanks for the re-name!

 

[Sailorsaint]

I have only lost one friend in the line of duty, one too many. He was aboard the USS Cole on the mess decks when he died. Another close acquaintance was one of the survivors but was so traumatized by the aftermath that he was medically discharged in ‘02. The things he told me about what he saw was hard to grasp. I always think of them on Memorial Day.

 

[Madmarsha]

I have only lost one friend in the line of duty, one too many. He was aboard the USS Cole on the mess decks when he died. Another close acquaintance was one of the survivors but was so traumatized by the aftermath that he was medically discharged in ‘02. The things he told me about what he saw was hard to grasp. I always think of them on Memorial Day.

Oh, really? Well, if you've shared that before about the Cole, I've forgotten it. I'm sorry about your friend.

And that's the thing, it's the ones that come home that are lost. That Laguna Hills 3/5 list grows every year from the original 25 that didn't come home.

It's only been recently that I've been able to share some thoughts and memories about Willie and his funeral and such with my sister-in-law, Willie's mom. She's begun to ask some questions about things going on that she doesn't remember or was aware of because she was so numb at the time. Like how many people were at Arlington. She said she heard it was a lot. I told her, yes, it was. At one point I looked back and I couldn't see the end of the processional line and we, my husband and I, were at the end of the front family phalanx. And how it was snowing but I have a profound memory of the sun showing its rays through the clouds. I'm glad to be able to share what I can with her. He's her boy but none of us have forgotten him.

 

[Sailorsaint]

Oh, really? Well, if you've shared that before about the Cole, I've forgotten it. I'm sorry about your friend.

And that's the thing, it's the ones that come home that are lost. That Laguna Hills 3/5 list grows every year from the original 25 that didn't come home.

It's only been recently that I've been able to share some thoughts and memories about Willie and his funeral and such with my sister-in-law, Willie's mom. She's begun to ask some questions about things going on that she doesn't remember or was aware of because she was so numb at the time. Like how many people were at Arlington. She said she heard it was a lot. I told her, yes, it was. At one point I looked back and I couldn't see the end of the processional line and we, my husband and I, were at the end of the front family phalanx. And how it was snowing but I have a profound memory of the sun showing its rays through the clouds. I'm glad to be able to share what I can with her. He's her boy but none of us have forgotten him.

I never mentioned him in this thread because it was initially about praying and I don’t. I do try and keep the memory alive by remembering.