“This Is The Day” To Create

I’ve gotten a few inquiries recently about the inspiration for my novel Memorial Day, and to be honest, I do not believe an author should try to decode their work for readers. As I wrote in an earlier blog, once a work of art is out there, I think it is up to readers to decide what it means to them.

However, I will share an important aspect of the creative process that ended up becoming Memorial Day. Back in 2009, when the U.S. military began to phase-out its “stop-loss” policy, I started to wonder what I might be thinking if I were serving in the military and finally would be allowed to come home for good.

To be perfectly clear, I have never served in the armed forces, but I was having interesting conversations about “stop-loss” with friends who had, and the impacts it had on some of their friends who continued to serve. The one thing we all agreed on, even though we had very different political orientations, was that it was hard to talk about “stop-loss” in a non-political way at the time. 

Those conversations stimulated me to write a song to try to imagine what I might be feeling if I had been subjected to “stop-loss” and finally found myself on the eve of returning home. The result is the song below, called “This Is The Day.” I think the sentiment speaks for itself, but what was most important for me was that it took me out of my daily point of view and opened the door for me to write the short story that years later became Memorial Day.

The point of this short post is that every day is the perfect day to create because you never know what that inspiration will lead to down the road. 

This Is The Day
    -Brendan Walsh

This is the day I’ve been waiting for
All of the time I’ve been away
This is the song I would sing for you
All those nights I lay awake

It’s been three long years since they sent me here
And for three long years
I’ve walked these duty roads
How many nights I wished
You could read my mind
This is the day

Standing for hours on watch under the stars
It’s impossible not to think
How far away you are
I fear you won’t recognize my face
For all I know the man you loved
Was buried in this place

This is the day I’ve been waiting for
The plane is in the air
They cannot send me back
All the ribbons and bows around the trees can go
Tell the boys I’m on my way
Let them know this time I’m home to stay

This is the day