Memorial Day

Balloons being released at the start of the race.

Days like today remind us of our freedom, and remind us of our past. I enjoy the past reminders, particularly due to my love for history.

The service men & women marching on the racetrack

Yesterday, my husband and I had a reminder of the appreciation others have for the sacrifice made by our armed forces.

It's really hard to get a good picture of a zooming car.

I'm not big into car races, going out of town on a school weekend, or loud noises. But when E was offered the opportunity to go to Indianapolis to represent the Marine Corps, I figured, why not? So yesterday, we went to the Indy 500.

It was quite the experience. Everywhere we went, people stopped my husband (and the others we were with) to thank them for their service. The generosity of people was amazing. We had our drinks paid for, and on our way home, someone paid for our dinner as well.

Being reminded of the gratitude of many citizens is comforting, especially in the times when it seems like no one appreciates the actions of our military. It's nice to know that, sometimes, my husband is appreciated for his service.

Even though it was really warm and sunny, there was enough of a breeze to keep things mostly comfortable. I definitely got sunburn, which was totally my own fault, but we're dealing with it. We still haven't decided if it was an experience worth repeating, but it was still an experience. It was fun to actually have something to do on a holiday weekend that was totally separate from things we've done in the past, with our parents or otherwise. Things like this will definitely be harder with a baby, so we figured this year, it wouldn't hurt to try something different. Next year we will likely stay closer to home, but now we can both say we've been to the Indy 500.