D-Day

Today is the anniversary of D-Day. I always forget about D-Day until I start watching a movie about it, or I read a book that mentions it. The only reason why I remembered that it was D-Day today was because when I was watching the Discovery Channel with my sister. (The only channel that my sister watches consistently) I noticed a commercial advertising the showing of the movie “Saving Private Ryan” for June 6, or the anniversary of D-Day. I made a pact with myself that if I wasn’t doing anything on Saturday evening then I would watch it. That is why I remembered that it is the anniversary of D-Day.

Today I spent a good ten minutes after breakfast starring up and the ceiling. I was procrastinating doing my homework and, strangely enough, the ceiling was very distracting. The ceiling in our living room is a high cathedral ceiling that is paneled in knotty pine boards. It is very amusing. Do you know how kids used to stare up at clouds pretending that they can see pictures of elephants and shapes in the clouds? That was what I was doing. The difference was that clouds can change shape so fast that before you have the opportunity to share your new discovery with anyone else they have already changed shape. It’s different with the pine boards. First of all, the shapes that you see embedded into the pine boards will be there for a few hundred years until the rot away. Second, you do not get as many diverse shapes with the knots in the pine boards; clouds are much more flexible. Still, I definitely saw a crazed snail from outer space with perfectly oval eyes. That was a little freaky. I also saw countless bird eyes and heads, and even a face of a ghost. It was very enlightening.

So what does this have to do with the fact that it is D-Day right today? Without the sacrifice of so many soldiers in WWII, then I would probably not be able to stare up at a ceiling on a Saturday morning, in a free country, where I have one of the highest standards of living in the world. I realized today that I am damn lucky to be living; even if it is just to stare up at the ceiling looking for monsters, and snails.