What grows in 25 years

25 years ago today, April 29, I was on a plane heading to Paris for five days in France, specifically to visit Cote 304 and Verdun.

Back then, I was writing what would become “Resurgam—Standing on the Ground of Remembrance.” On the surface, it looked like a war story but it was much more than that. The wood line I had envisioned in Alpha Company’s story seemed very similar to Cote 304. I wanted to know if Cote 304 was the ground I had imagined. I learned about Verdun on December 25 while looking through a tour book on France and by February 20 decided to go there. It made no sense why a place completely devastated by war intrigued me. The verdant land had been slaughtered by war. And yet poppies flourished on the war-torn ground in France. During my WWI research in February 1998, bits of the poem I read “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae would drift into my thoughts.… we are the Dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow. Loved and we loved, now we lie in Flanders Fields…

I wondered what story I would discover when I remembered the unknown soldiers from WWI. The words of John McCrae’s poem continued to draw my attention:
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders field

The words seemed to be speaking directly to me. The writer in me wanted to go to uncover the story in Verdun. Yet another side of me didn’t want to go face the darkness.

Deep within my gut I knew the step I had to take. And I did. No one else wanted to go, so I went alone. I prepared with great diligence for a trip to Verdun, the site of the longest and most devastating battle in WWI.

I returned home with unseen gifts that took a lot of time to unpack. The journey was fruitful, and the fruit has multiplied exponentially through the decades. It’s nothing “grand” by worldly measures, but I have been awed time and time again by the fruit. All the work, energy and time were worth it.

To honor my younger self, who listened and responded, I’m posting the journey that began when I landed in Paris on April 30. I boarded my return flight on May 6.

By taking the step, saying yes to remember the unknown soldiers of World War I, she (my younger self) also passed the light to me (my present self/my future self). When I remember this journey, she rekindles the flame in me. I bless my younger self and her creative spirit. She enjoyed writing about what she learned and so do I. It is always good to remember these simple truths.