Why Would You Take A Chance?

I was leaving a sporting event recently, and came to a crosswalk, with many other people leaving the same sporting event.  There were vehicles coming down the street towards us, and many of us stopped.  One woman came up to the curb with several children with her.  The diversity of the children made me wonder if they were friends, not all family.  The children stopped at the berm, but the woman walked into the street and said "Oh, no.  They (the cars) have to stop."  

Well, I agree with her, the law expects the vehicles to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.  But why would anyone make that assumption, especially when some of the children in her charge may not be her own.  

The cars did stop, and we all crossed the street safely.

Memorial Day 2017

In recognition of Memorial Day, I went to the ceremony at the City of Lubbock Cemeteryhttps://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x86fe6cbc2b936f5d:0xd97d0d076c73dc91!2m19!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m13!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!3m1!7e115!4shttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page%3Dcr%26GRid%3D492%26CRid%3D151541%26!5scity+of+lubbock+cemetery+-+Google+Search&imagekey=!1e1!2shttps://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/find-a-grave-prod/photos/2012/349/CEM151541_135561713366.jpg&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjokNms55XUAhVq_IMKHYOlA3YQoioIdTAK
The service is organized by the Nancy Anderson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution http://www.texasdar.org/chapters/NancyAnderson/.  There was a nice crowd, and after the service Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts put flags on the about 2000 graves of veterans in the cemetery.

After the service, I went to the Lubbock Area Veterans War Memorial https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x86fe7271a5c99123:0x5618d02a9f4624e7!2m19!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m13!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!3m1!7e115!4s//lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ISsJq0rjoJc/WQvYR_XnsuI/AAAAAAAAAEE/PWY73y_dTFYrn1y-jNmaFzcOoGh3vD_YgCLIB/w213-h160-k-no/!5slubbock+area+veterans+war+memorial+-+Google+Search&imagekey=!1e3!2s-ISsJq0rjoJc/WQvYR_XnsuI/AAAAAAAAAEE/PWY73y_dTFYrn1y-jNmaFzcOoGh3vD_YgCLIB&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiH6dCO6ZXUAhXs64MKHa-YB14QoioIbDAK.  There was a good number of people there, including one veteran who was explaining about the meaning of Memorial Day to two young girls, presumably a daughter or both were daughters. I do not have roots in Lubbock, so most of the names mean little to me.

In the same park is the statue of William "Willie" McCool http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/23173 who lost his life on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003 when it disintegrated upon re-entry.  One year, I was at the statue, and Astronaut McCool's father was there.  That was an honor to meet him.

My last stop was the Lubbock Regional Public Safety Memorial https://www.facebook.com/LubbockRegionalPublicSafetyMemorial/. I did not know any of the fire department, EMS or police honored, but some of the names and stories of the honorees are familiar to me, having heard about them on the news.  I knew the wife of one of the firemen. I was the only person at the memorial at the time I was there.