Yes, it's me. I'm back. No, I don't want to talk about the national beauty contest we call an election. If you can't figure out why, read the previous sentence. My garden? I've got a garden year in review post working and should have that up in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I will break my blogging silence and provide a short history on today's federal holiday: Veterans Day.
Veterans Day wasn't always known as that. According to History.com (I'll pretend it's a little more reliable than Wikipedia. Not that I have anything against that site), the day was originally known as Armistice Day. It was first commemorated in 1919, the year after the end of the First World War (It was known as 'The Great War' then). It was made a Federal Holiday in 1938. In 1954, after lobbying by veterans organizations (from the Second World War and the Korean War) the name of the holiday changed from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, and is to commemorate veterans of all wars.
There are some other items about the history of the day I was not aware of (even though I apparently lived through some of it) – such as the Federal observation of Veterans Day being changed to the fourth Monday in October in order to ensure three day weekends and encourage tourism from 1971 to 1978, it certainly would have made a difference this year, with the holiday in the middle of the week.
So, if you know someone who is a military veteran of a past (or even current) war, take a moment and remember their service. It's a solemn remembrance of the sacrifices others have made so we can enjoy what we have today.
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