By Suzanne Sparrow Watson<\/p>\n
There will be lots of news coverage this week about Memorial Day.\u00a0 Unfortunately, most of it will be about hot dog recipes, furniture sales and half-off \u00a0underwear at the department store.\u00a0 Few people remember that before 1971, Memorial Day was always observed on May 30.\u00a0 Then Congress got in the act, declared it to be the \u201clast Monday in May\u201d and \u2013 voila! – the three-day weekend was born.\u00a0 Now many Americans view Memorial Day as the kick-off to summer versus a time to reflect on those who have served our country and lost their lives.<\/p>\n
So this week we want to pay tribute not only to those who have died, but to those who serve without much recognition \u2013 military families.\u00a0 A couple of years ago we stumbled on a television program that puts the spotlight on these families and in the process, gave some perspective to our lives.\u00a0 It\u2019s called Coming Home.<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen bits on the news about returning service people who surprise their kids by showing up at school or a ball game. Who doesn\u2019t get choked up watching them?\u00a0 Coming Home <\/em>\u00a0includes some of these reunions but it goes one step further: they work with one service person and his\/her spouse to plan an elaborate homecoming to surprise their children.\u00a0 Often times whole cities get involved to throw a parade or professional sports teams lend a \u00a0hand to the cause.<\/p>\n Matt Rogers hosts the show and does in-depth interviews with the spouse and children of the returning service person.\u00a0 And it is during this portion of the show that we are reminded that we really don\u2019t<\/em> have any problems.<\/p>\n The spouses of deployed service people have to be and do everything for their children:\u00a0 supervising homework, ferrying kids to music lessons, attending sporting events or dance recitals, and being the shoulder to cry on when something goes wrong .\u00a0 They must run the household singlehandedly, managing repairmen and maintenance, keeping everything running smoothly.\u00a0 The financial hardship alone is stressful for many of these families, and most of all, they\u2019re just plain lonely.\u00a0 Add to all of that the constant worry for the safety of their loved one and it makes for a pretty difficult way of life.<\/p>\n It is truly a humbling experience to watch this program.\u00a0 So you can imagine my surprise when I learned that Coming Home <\/em>went off the air.\u00a0 Replaced by a series about prostitution. Honest.<\/p>\n Stay tuned for Part Two where we\u2019ll write about the brave children in military families and the fate of Coming Home<\/em>.\u00a0 Same time, same channel, on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson There will be lots of news coverage this week about Memorial Day.\u00a0 Unfortunately, most of it will be about hot dog recipes, furniture sales and half-off \u00a0underwear at the department store.\u00a0 Few people remember that before … read more