on our way back west, we stopped at arlington to see david. i still can't even think about the fact that he is buried there without finding it incredibly odd, for lack of a better word, to have a close friend in a place of such national renown. in the numerous times i went to arlington when i lived in dc, i never dreamed i would know a name on one of those white tombstones... they were always someone else's friend or family member. vast arlington becomes much smaller when it it's personal. i was always very moved when i visited in the past, knowing what those thousands of graves mean to so many people and to the safety of america... but it's so different now. i could say an awful lot, a lot about loving and death and life and freedom... and maybe i will someday, but for now the pictures can speak for themselves. arlington doesn't need many words. the emotion and grief of families visiting their loved ones -- the two sets of mothers and small children i saw visiting daddy's grave -- aren't things you can put into words very effectively. or that you should really even try to.
^ tomb of the unknown soldier.
^ changing of the guard.
he's been gone for a year and a half as of this past week... i miss that kid. i'm so grateful for him. and that he is buried in such a place of honor.
In the summer of 1973 the 101st Airborne (which I was part of) was asked to come to West Point and play war games with the cadets (we were to be the enemy in the war games). I took the opportunity to rice my motorcycle to DC and made sure I stopped at Arlinton. As I watched and even later reflecting on the changing of the guard, it was ominous or surreal (or like you said what words do you put with that). Life changing!
ReplyDeleteSo awesome you got to locate Davids plot! Yeah, it's so very strange to see the name of your friend on a head stone, let alone in Arlington.
Thank you for posting your pictures, very awesome!
Bill Myers