Veteran's Day 21

Gertie attends the Veteran's Day celebration in November 21.  She uses a wheelchair and uses her index finger to direct you where you should seat her.  Her hearing is lacking but she asks questions.  Today the music is loud, the table is draped in red, white and blue dollar tree decorations.  We have 2 sheet cakes from Star Market.  Enough sugar to kill everyone in the room.  Iced tea and lemonade.  We say the Pledge of Allegiance. Patriot songs are up loud on the Youtube channel.  After everyone is served, stories are shared about brothers who served, fathers and husbands.  Rationing, the jokes about the drawn on stockings.  "L' shares her story about her father in France.  "M" shares how her father was one of the first black pilots to fight in the War.  The Big War.  Veteran's Day is a dicey celebration.  We want to honor those who served and sacrificed but it often turns into a second hand Fourth of July celebration.  Too many decorations, too much dancing by staff.  As the party winds up, everyone heading for the elevators, I escort Gertie to the door of her unit.  "My husband died in Normandy and left me with a brand new baby" she says as I drop her off.  This left a scar on my heart that I share every time I can.