I am probably the the strangest female on the planet. I fucking HATE chick flicks. My husband enjoys them and makes me watch them with him. And it makes me fucking insane to watch the crying and the moping and all the love and drama. God, just shoot me now.
I will, however, confess to crying every damn time I watch a war movie. Sounds stupid, I know, but Braveheart, We Were Soldiers, Saving Private Ryan, and Band of Brothers reduce me to tears every time I watch them. I have never watched Black Hawk Down because I know the story and I will probably end up on the bathroom floor halfway through it bawling my damned head off. And don't even get me going on Hamburger Hill (which if you haven't ever seen and you call yourself a Rakkasan, you will be going to hell. . . )
So why the problem with war movies? And what the fuck do my emotional and psychological issues have to do with Memorial Day?
Just this: war movies make me cry because they really bring home the fact that there are men who will gladly die for their country and their fellow soldiers. Every fucking one of them is a hero and the honor I have had of getting to know so many of them humbles me. War movies remind me of these men who I have come to love and seeing the sacrifices on screen that echo what these heroes do for real every day brings me to my knees crying every time. As I said, I know it's odd to cry at explosions and valor, but the valor is what makes me cry.
I know that this blog is not my typical rant and rave with F-bombs dropped every other word, but for Memorial Day weekend I am taking a break from my usual tirades to say "Thank you." To all my Rakkasans, past and present, soldier or spouse and parents alike, it has been an honor to know all of you and to be part of your lives. And to those fallen Rakkasans, until we form again (and I pray God will let me form with you even though I am just a spouse) as Gen George Patton said, "Let us not mourn for those men who have died fighting, but let us rather thank God that such heroes have lived."
Happy Memorial Day! Ne Desit Virtus.
