From the desk of Teresa Jordan, Executive Director – Remembrance Day is a powerful reminder of the human spirit in times when our country was at war on a global level. Young men and women volunteered to serve with almost no idea what they would be truly up against.
A few years ago, I got to spend time with a group of War Brides. What they told me about their experiences in England during the war was so real and vivid that it left a lasting impression.
One war bride, well into her eighties, told me that she was walking with her baby in a pram and the German fighter plane came so low and close that she made eye contact with the pilot before diving with her child into the grassy ditch beside the lane.
The group talked of bomb shelters and lost brothers, of the constant fear and the great shortages of food and other comforts.
On the other hand, these were all war brides, so clearly each had found love in the same time. Some, in an amazingly short time, had decided that they would spend their life with a soldier, and faced moving to a completely different country in the midst of the chaos of war and disaster.
“So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.”
Paulo Coelho, The alchemist
Each of us has faced great challenges of our own – happily not usually the threat of bombs and warfare here in Canada – but we’ve faced disasters of different kinds.
I think what these spunky ladies taught me, over 75 years after the war and their great migration, is that there can be joy in the midst of great sorrow, there can be a sense of adventure when all seems lost, and that Canadian soldiers are clearly irresistible. 🙂
It is important to remember, and to reflect on great sacrifice, youthful exuberance and the idea that there can still be joy… even during the worst circumstances.
Photo by Miray Bostancu0131 on Pexels.com
UltimateInclusion.com 