{"id":109,"date":"2017-01-05T20:05:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T20:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whattoseeinwashingtondc.com\/?p=109"},"modified":"2022-02-17T18:52:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T23:52:04","slug":"gone-but-not-forgotten-at-arlington-national-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whattoseeinwashingtondc.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/05\/gone-but-not-forgotten-at-arlington-national-cemetery\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone But Not Forgotten at Arlington National Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Section 60, every day is Memorial Day for some family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago today, my daughter and I visited Matthew Seidler’s grave in Arlington National Cemetery to remember him. Post holidays and pre-spring there’s not much beauty in the frozen landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Matthew
Matthew Seidler grave in Arlington National Cemetery<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I first heard of Matthew Seidler about a year after my dad died when my mom hung a quote up on the wall above her desk. “I cannot mourn for what will not be. I’ll cherish what was.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After noticing the quote a couple times I asked her where it came from. She mentioned it was a fathe’rs comment after his son died in Afghanistan. I looked up the story that appeared in his hometown newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, when they reported on Matthew Seidler’s life and death as he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was killed by an IED while serving to protect his fellow soldiers as EOD apprentice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple years later and I couldn’t get his story out of my mind. And so it was a year ago today that we visited his grave, placed a stone on his gravestone and remembered him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I regret I never had the chance to meet him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish I had.<\/p>\n\n\n