Saturday night I had a dream that I was driving and that I rear-ended (Dallas Cowboys quarterback) Tony Romo’s car. I think in the dream I saw a light at an approaching intersection that went from green to yellow and I expected the car in front of me to keep going through the intersection, but it didn’t and I wasn’t prepared to stop in time and hit it. How I could have known it was Tony Romo’s car I don’t know, that’s how logical most dreams are. I don’t remember anything else about it, though I wonder if my hitting his car symbolically counts as a missed blocking assignment on the part of Flozell Adams or Leonard Davis, since it was a hit that came from the blind side.
Last night I had a long dream that included me smoking a long cigar, or at least trying to light one up. In my 25 years I have never rear-ended a car and I’ve never smoked anything. It’s interesting the things you do in dreams that seem completely normal, even though you’ve never done those things in real life, such as getting into auto collisions, smoking, shooting guns at bad guys, and… um, let’s just move on.
Being a government employee I don’t have to work today since it’s Memorial Day. Which is nice. Today I made a trip to Target, and my car’s odometer passed the 65,000 mile mark. For those keeping score at home, that’s over 24,000 miles I’ve driven it in the 14 months I’ve had it.
But back to Memorial Day for a minute. Nobody in my immediate family served in the military, but my late grandfather I think was a medic or had something to do with that side of the army. I haven’t been told much about it, but apparently he spent some time in the European theater in World War II, though I don’t think he was ever in the middle of any battles. I do know a good number of men who are veterans or who are currently serving somewhere. One of my college roommates is stationed in Germany, though I think he’s currently serving in Iraq or Afganistan. A guy who was my dorm’s RA some 6 years ago became a commissioned officer after graduating, and is probably serving somewhere.
Several of the men at my church have served in past conflicts. One of our deacons was an MP, another a marine. Our pastor’s oldest son served 4 years in the army, specializing in driving tanks. Another man was a pilot during the Vietnam War, flying helicopters on covert rescue missions out of Cambodia (or it could have been Laos) when the Viet Cong would manage to shoot down choppers flying other missions. He was shot down himself on one such mission and after being captured he spent something like 6 years as a prisoner at the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison, the same place John McCain, Admiral James Stockdale (Ross Perot’s presidential running mate in 1992), and numerous others were held as prisoners. He told his story to a group of us during a young adults Bible Study last year, and it was an amazing story of God’s grace in how he was kept alive during that time and came away from that place with a faith stronger than he had ever had. He’s a good friend and a great encouragement to all the men of our church. He’s getting married this coming weekend and I plan on being there to congratulate him. But today we should extend our heartfelt thanks to him, and to all those who served in past wars, especially those who gave their lives in battles and wars large and small.
Enjoy your hot dogs, chips, fireworks, and drinks, but remember the men who fought to make sure that you could one day spend the fourth Monday of May eating hot dogs instead of frankfurters, drinking Coca-Colas instead of Vita-Colas, and watching a version of Das Boot where the Germans lose the war. I’m hoping to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull later tonight, which might be a good occasion to remember that without the service of our veterans who ensured the defeat of Germany in World War II, Steven Spielberg and many other great Jewish artists might not be alive, much less able to create moving and entertaining films for free people everywhere to enjoy. So today I salute our fallen veterans and their families who remember them.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone!
