Be Humble, Sit Down

What do Daylight Saving, the US Election and Remembrance Day all have in common? They all happened in the same week in the year 2024 and they all bring about feelings.

Or wait, do they always occur in the same week? I should really do some research for these.

Even though I didn’t use my brain to research any helpful information today, the brain is a fascinating organ. It’s said that the brain prioritizes memories that are going to be useful for future decisions.

I’m not saying the experts are wrong necessarily but let me tell you, remembering my middle school locker combination has not been useful as of yet.

I also don’t believe that remembering a random Remembrance Day ceremony in grade 9 is useful either but here I am about to share it with you. 

It was the year 2008 and my ride to school had just picked me up. As I was buckling my seat belt she looked me up and down and asked, “that’s what you’re wearing today?”

I found that a bit hurtful but I replied with an ever so confident, “uh, I think so?”

Later on, about half way through the first period I realized that it was the Remembrance Day ceremony at school that day. I had clearly forgotten. 

I was wearing pigtail braids, skinny jeans and an orange and brown striped hooded sweater. Now, before we move on we need to acknowledge that look for a quick second…

And back to the story. 

That must have been why she judged my outfit, right? Or maybe she simply reacted that way because I was wearing braided pigtails as a 15 year old.  We will unfortunately never know.

As our class entered the gymnasium single file, I was mortified looking at the sea of 1000 students wearing black while I looked like Tigger. 

The Tigger bounce would have really come in handy in this moment. 

Thankfully, the friend I was sitting beside also didn’t dress for the occasion so it didn’t exactly look like a Where’s Waldo scene. 

Now, I’d like to say that no one noticed but I am prettyy sure I was noticed. 

I’m not sure why this memory is kept so vividly but I found myself once again embarrassed at a Remembrance Day ceremony… 

In E-Normous Confusion, I embarrassed myself in front of a physician. Today, I embarrassed myself in front of 6 Veterans plus others.

For Remembrance Day at the Long Term Care facility, we are lucky enough to have the ceremony conducted in partnership with a group of Veterans. It’s special to have directly-impacted, qualified individuals leading the ceremony. I only feel qualified to sing O’Canada and I don’t even feel super confident with that since I’m not many places where I need to sing it anymore. 

The service was to consist of the national anthem, the Last Post, moment of silence, the Rouse (new word I learned), laying of wreaths and the Veterans reciting poems and scriptures. 

I was seated in the second row with residents when the MC invited those who were able to stand for O’Canada. The resident right next to me and I proceeded to stand. 

It appeared she was also not qualified to sing O’Canada.

We stood through the national anthem, the Last Post, the moment of silence and then the Rouse. When they began to lay the wreaths, we intently watched.. still standing. 

I could feel the MC looking our way, so I kindly smiled back at him. He then leaned forward over the podium while covering the microphone and said,  “you know, you can sit down now if you would like, and I would strongly recommend it.” 

I glanced around and realized no one else in the room was standing.

I don’t know if we were too focused on the ceremony or wanted to be the centre of attention (both are equally plausible) but we were like two moles in Whac-a-Mole waiting for our fate. 

We smiled at one another as the resident gave me a light swat on the arm. Once we were seated, the resident squeezed my thigh to hold back her laughter.

Following the service the MC approached me to thank me for the morning and added, “and thanks for the giggle. Maybe next year you’ll follow the instructions better.” 

As embarrassed as I was, at least this time I was dressed respectfully for the service. Maybe I did learn something from holding onto that memory…