Remembrance Day

Field poppies growing in our garden
Photo
Barbara Muir © 

As I do every Remembrance Day (that's today in Canada) I looked through my
photos 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. 

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. We all felt so important, moved, and also lucky to be there, just because we
helped people cross the street at our schools.

As an adult teacher I've taught people who've escaped war zones, and lost
family and friends to war. One soldier I taught who fought in Afghanistan.
had PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). He joined the Canadian army at 18, and
was 21 when he came home. He did not think of himself as a hero at all. So I
will think of all the families losing people to war today, and profoundly wish
for peace, and an end to war.