Honoring the Survivors

At the 4th of July Parade yesterday this lovely lady was among the Veterans being honored;  survivors of war.  Her smile captivated me, and I imagined her a nurse, full of capability and compassion.  I know, she could have been anything, but that's where my imagination went straight away. (My grandmother was a nurse).  I wanted to hear her story, her answer to surviving, her joy so triumphant, so evident in the moment.  She was somehow familiar, like a distant relative whom others see in me, whom I could not recognize myself.  And then they pull out an old photograph and ahhh, there I am!