May has arrived, and two holidays are recognized this month ñ each significant to American families. May 12 is Motherís Day, and May 27 is Memorial Day. I canít help but think about how the two are related. There are plenty of mothers whose sons or daughters are in the military and overseas, fighting for their country ñ many of them will miss their mom on Motherís Day this year ñ and mom will miss them. Many moms are in the military, too, and certainly they will miss both their moms and their own children.There are way too many mothers whose sons and daughters have died because of their military service. Their Motherís Day is forever connected to Memorial Day in the most difficult sense. Itís unthinkable to me and most mothers that we would ever bury a child.Motherís Day and Memorial Day: Itís disquieting that two holidays are connected yet so diametrically opposed. We celebrate the joy of the bond between mother and child on one hand, and then we memorialize the children who have died as a result of war.Starting with the Revolutionary War and including all wars through the Iraq war, the sons and daughters who have lost their lives totals 1,171, 177. Another 362 deaths have resulted from other conflicts since 1980, including those in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Somalia and Haiti. The Civil War and World War II account for the most deaths: 525,000 and 405,399, respectively.My statistics came from PolitiFact.com ñ PolitiFact is a nationally recognized Pulitzer Prize winning fact-check news organization of the Tampa Bay Times in Florida.I will happily celebrate Motherís Day with my three daughters, and I am lucky to do so. And on Memorial Day, I will not only remember those who sacrificed their lives defending this country but also the mothers who sacrificed their hearts for this country.See you in June,– Michelle
