Field Trip to the Kirksville War Memorial

A couple of weeks ago Teagan asked me the question "What is war?" Which I have to admit took me by surprise because it's at times like that that really strike me as to how old they are getting to be. What followed was a great and lengthy discussion that I can't remember all the details of but at some point we talked about what soldiers do and how they are sometimes asked to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Which both of the kids were very awed and saddened by this thought. Which was when I mentioned that we have a memorial in our town to honor the soldiers that came from our area. Which both the kids promptly asked "Can we go see it?" Unfortunately for the past two weeks we just haven't had the time to because I didn't want to just run by and let them take a quick glance and then be off. I wanted to make sure we had the time to fully appreciate what we were looking at. But for that entire two weeks every time we were out and about driving the kids would ask if we could go see it right then and I would have to tell them not yet. So today we had the time to go and it was a really great experience. The first thing the kids noticed was all the names on both the obelisk and the wall surrounding it. So we went through which sections on the wall and obelisk represented different wars. Then the kids started pointing to names and asking me to read them as they just stood there and soaked it all in. It is a very amazing thing to watch them process what the names in front of them represent and watch it become a personal thing to them.

 Arowyn deep in thought

Teagan asking if I thought it still worked