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I’ll Never Forget the incident. I’d responded to a knock at my kitchen door at the precise moment a lobbed peanut butter jar landed with a thunk on the back of my head. At the door stood a long-time friend with two little boys, each clutching one of her hands. My friend’s mouth quirked from about-to-laugh to a silent W-h-a-t?— as the peanut butter jar, fortunately plastic with lid tightly attached, fell to the floor behind me.

 “Come in!” I practically shouted.  “I’m so excited to see you!” Chuckling, I gestured over my shoulder to our family’s pre-schooler who was now sitting at the kitchen table.  “I think he was just trying to let me know he wants a sandwich.”  

We recently talked about this years-ago incident from our different vantage points. “I was horrified,” she recalled. “I looked over at your son and then down at my two precious little boys, and thought, “NEVER.  Never will my sons do anything like that. And it’s true.”  She paused to laugh.  “They’ve Never thrown a jar at my head; however,  they threw some pretty hard and fast curve balls at us, especially going into their teenage years.  But by then I’d learned.  Never say Never.”  We both smiled, ruefully.

Never say Never. The repeated word reverberates as Memorial Day gets closer.  This year there will not be the traditional concert venues where thousands of us are used to gathering.  However the message of those concerts, “Never Forget,” will still echo through the music and speeches, though via remote locations. Reminding us what this holiday weekend is about.

To Never Forget the service men and women who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom and liberty. To remember especially veterans from World II, Korea, Vietnam,  Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan.   Heroes who fought with the hope that we—those they loved and those they might never get to meet—wouldn’t have to.  To Never Say Never to the idea that “it couldn’t happen here.”

On Memorial Day  many of us will also stop to remember,   to Never Forget, those we love who’ve gone before us.

This year will also be especially crucial to Never Forget to live life as balanced as possible,

dream big,  

find ways to help our neighbors,

Hope,   

        and

Love      

Never is a good word to keep this weekend alongside Forget— so that we Always Remember what’s most important. 

Happy Memorial Day 2020!

Consider  

What is most important for you to “Never Forget”?