Telling the Story...
...He limped over to me reaching out to press a small silk poppy into my hand. The man was wearing a hat that showed the world he was a veteran that who had served in the U.S. Army. I was delighted to be given that small flower. It had been many years since I had seen the veterans handing out the gentle reminder of those who made the sacrifice for our freedom. Throughout my childhood I can remember seeing the poppies everywhere. People gladly accepted the flowers and proudly displayed them in support of our veterans. Back then, in the 50's and early 60's, the poppies were made of paper. I can remember thinking about how each poppy had to be assembled by hand. Visions of entire factories of people creating thousands of paper lowers filled my mind. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but after many years I noticed that there seemed to be no poppies around on Veteran's Day. What happened to the poppies? Had somebody missed the day, or had the shipments o