After church Sunday, my wife needed us to go out to the Outlet Mall in Niagara Falls, NY. This may sound like it’s near the churning waters of one our world’s seven wonders but it isn’t (it’s near a land fill that’s all grassed over). And is it just our outlet mall or are there really no bargains per se at Outlet Malls?

Anyway, with daughter in tow, off we headed to the mall to “exchange” this and “search” for that. We pull in to the parking lot and it is p-a-c-k-e-d (and we’re early)! Ooooo. Veteran’s Day weekend, I remember. But there are a lot of Canadian license plates. Hmmm.

I enter the mall and now I really see and remember. November 11th is Canada’s Remembrance Day. Fully 50% of the shoppers at this mall have come from Canada (as the Canadian dollar is currently more valuable than the US dollar) and they are all wearing their red poppies. I am proud of them and jealous…I don’t have a poppy.

But among the throngs of people, the mall suddenly doesn’t seem so crowded with strangers. Remembrance Day, Veteran’s Day, Poppy Day or Armistice Day…we are together, we are safe, we remember and we are all eternally grateful.

Thank you to all our veterans around the world and to their families…for your every kind of sacrifice.

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