Bethany's Grand Old Flag

She wants to do it the way it's supposed to be done now that she's the proud owner of a small American flag. In the dark of a girl's pink bedroom she remembers. You never leave a flag up overnight. I was a guest in the room for that moment as she crawled out of the comfy high-rise bed to do the honors. She unwound the string from the nail on which it was wrapped (wow, how'd she think of that?) and slowly began to lower Old Glory to the floor. It gripped me as a mother watching the girl who decided the flag should be displayed and found a way to do it. I found myself caught somewhere between a laugh and a cry, a strange but very real place, as the flag came down. The heart of the girl who insisted it be done had touched me and brought out that emotion that seems to escape words. I didn't make a sound but just watched. Honor was never more beautiful than it was right then as a young and innocent girl did what must be done. After all, it was the flag.