For the third year in a row, I will be singing at the Beverly National Cemetery on Memorial Day. This is the song I do, I learned it from Jed's singing of it. When one is standing on dais, looking at the gravestones, all in a straight line, and then sings the first line, "On the hillside of tears, stones stand like soldiers, all at attention, all in a row", the chills just go through the body. I see the faces of neighbors and friends that never made it home from my war.

In the United States, Mothers who have lost a child in war are called "Gold Star Mothers". I believe it stems from WWII, when a home that had a son or daughter in the military at war, had a blue star in the window. If the child of that Mom was killed, they were given a gold star. The first year I sang this song at the Beverly National Cemetery, I looked out and saw a Gold Star Mother there. She had been asked to speak, but she preferred not to. Knowing the second verse, and that it is about these women forced to endure the unbearable, I looked at her and said, "Meta, I am singing this song just for you". She was touched deeply, or at least that is what she told me through teary eyes, and I had a very hard time not breaking down while I looked at her.

Remember folks that it isn't just an excuse for a 3 day weekend.

Mick