Memorial Day

Never forget the reason for Memorial Day...

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea.
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

-Alan R. Mills

Skydiving

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I went skydiving in that new place downtown. It's an indoor skydiving thing, with a fan down near the bottom. The ceiling of it goes up about 35 feet, but we didn't go up that high ;). They gave us a short class on the correct posture for skydiving, had us suit up in some cool skydiving suits and we hopped right in! It was pretty awesome.

(There's always an instructor in there with you unless you're really good, by the way.)

These are some pics of me...



And these are of Jill...

It was a really cool experience.