The Daycare Holiday Break

Many parents question

For the paper that I write for, I was sent to the nearby town of Grand Rapids, Michigan to cover the former President Gerald R. Ford's lying in repose and funeral.

One thing that surprised me about this event were the number of families that were in the line that extended several miles to view the President's coffin. Many children were in strollers or bundled up against the cold weather. Many of these families were willing to wait for up to 6 hours for their children to participate in this event.

Time after time when I asked these parents why they had made a point of bringing their children to say goodbye to a leader who served long before their children were even born, I heard the same answer. They stated that they knew that even if their children couldn't appreciate the event now, someday they would remember eventually their participation in history.

I couldn't help but wonder if they would have felt differently if it weren't for the proximity of Ford's death to the holidays, and if many of had school the next day.

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