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Anzac Day

 


I've never been one to glorify war, but Anzac Day has always held a special place in my heart. Being a trumpet player, I've played The Last Post and The Rouse at many a service, starting from early high school. It's my way of helping honour the past, in particular my great-grandfather - my Dad's favourite "Pop" who served in the first and second world wars.

This year however, reading a little bit more into it. While we were in lockdown for Anzac Day last year, I never imagined a year later we would still be fighting this virus and in another lockdown, but there's a lot that's happened over the past year + that I never expected.

Our ancestors risked and sacrificed their lives so that we could have better lives. We're lucky enough to live lives they never could have imagined in their wildest dreams. But we as humans have a tendency to forget, or maybe fail to appreciate how good some of us have it.

Pop lied about his age to be older so he could enlist in WWI and actually so he could be younger for WWII. He was very young and on the other side of the world. Lately, I've been struggling with the fact that I'm not able to just jump on a plane and head home whenever I need to. I've been very lucky to even have been able to do this in the first place, of course, but the thought of "would I have left if I could never come home" has defintely been weighing heavy on my mind lately.

He left Australia in March of 1916 to join the fight in France, and after a few months was shot in the butt. He was transfered to England for treatment, where he met my great-grandmother, and not long after they married and had my grandmother.

So today, as I'm missing home for more reasons than there are hours in the day, I'm going to try and think about Pop. Barely 18 years of age, fighting in a war on the other side of the world, and then wounded, still not returning home until several years later on the HMAT Orca. If he hadn't been there though, he wouldn't have met my great-grandmother, and the rest is history.

Yes, here in Ontario, Canada, we are in our third lockdown, but if our ancestors can survive the perils of war, we can survive staying home, and giving up the luxury of commercial air travel for the time being, no matter how much we may struggle with it. Today, I've choosen to wear a pinafore adorned with Australian native flowers, and some choice brooches that help my express my gratitude while still giving me that signature flare.

Lest we forget.


Pinafore and belt by Made590

Shirt via thriftshop

Headband by Gracie Klutz

Poppy brooch and earrings by Parksypop

Crest brooch by Kirbee Lawler


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