A Very Strong Memory

I'm watching the War again.  I watched it pretty often last winter.  I haven't been feeling great, though, I think the problem is more a chronic Lack of Motivation-itis rather than anything physically wrong.  And I discovered last Monday evening, that by putting the War on, I found reservoirs of Motivation that I didn't know I had.  Trite though it may sound, it really is inspiring to me to listen to people who were faced with terrible situations, who were exhausted, underfed, and overwhelmed and yet they still did what they had to do.  And so I am watching the War.  Again.

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I was watching it last night and I had the strongest memory.  Years and years ago, when I was living in Seattle, I was single and happy to be so.  I had a very tight circle of friends, we were all single.  And we used to joke that our husbands were World War II fighter pilots who had been killed in the War and that's why so many of us fabulous women were still single.  Clearly, all the real men had already lived and died and there were none left.

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Most of us are married now.  We found our real men, quite alive and not only willing, but able to take us on.  It was such a strong memory, all of us sitting around, joking and laughing together.  I could hear their voices so clearly and as I was watching these young, handsome, weary soldiers in grainy black and white, most of them are long since dead.  It's enough to break your heart.

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I know my affection for this MegaSeries will surprise some, but listening to these older Americans tell their stories, and more often than not, they're stories about their families, their close friends, their personal experiences in the War.  Their chins tremble and their eyes well up during one story but then they chuckle and laugh at the next.  It's a good reminder, broken hearts aren't always a bad thing.