Poppies for Remembrance Day

Field poppies growing in our garden
Photo
Barbara Muir © 2015

I spent about an hour today going through my photos year-by-year to find
a picture of the Poppies that grow every year in our garden.

When they appear they are a clear sign of wonderful summer weather.
We grow field poppies which come back every year. Their seeds are so
small they’re almost too small to be seen. But the plants are resilient and
show up everywhere. I haven't taken many pictures of them because 
there is always a lot going on in our lives when they are at their finest.

So this is what I found. It made me nostalgic for poppies and for Remembrance
Day. As a child I was a school crossing guard in Ottawa in grades seven and eight.
That meant that we got to join the marching soldiers, and bands that would go to the
National War Memorial in Ottawa to honour our fallen soldiers on Remembrance
Day. I felt so important, moved, and also lucky to be there.

As an adult teacher a few years ago I taught a soldier who fought in Afghanistan.
His view of war was very immediate. He had PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
He was 21 when he came home, and did not think of himself as a hero at all. So I
will think of him today when I wear my poppy pin.