Why Shetland?

Bernie's blog has informed and updated you on our first 48 hours of traveling.  Even with all the experience we've had on the road, this 48 hours was tough by any standard.  Our rule of thumb is to "give it twenty-four hours" for things to look different.  In this case, twenty-four hours just meant twenty-four more hours.  But it's over now, my backpack did finally catch up to us in Lerwick, and we are on the other side of this particular set of aggro.  To top things off, we have been having lovely sunshine in Scotland. Every time we mention the sun to the locals, they just hold up a finger to their lips and say"Shhhh".
Why Shetland?  Well, Shetland has always been a thought nestled at the back of my mind.  Not for its beauty or rugged landscape but because my Mom's older brother Abe Hildebrand was buried here.  Uncle Abe was a Flight Officer with the RCAF and stationed (we believe) in the Shetlands.   July 1944 his plane crashed into the side of Foula Island leaving only one survivor ... ironically enough the survivor was from Winnipeg!  No one in my Mom's family has ever been to Shetland ... it is a long way to go, and somehow it felt important to do this for my Mom because I know she missed her brother.  Abe Hildebrand was 27 years old when he died and he left a young wife that he had married when he was stationed in New Brunswick.  Mom had a few letters from her sister-in-law but after a while that contact was lost too.  The archivist who worked in the Museum Library was very helpful in trying to find information about the crash and he came up with two short articles that I was not familiar with.  (To my Hildebrand cousins, if you are interested, I will get copies to you when we return home at the end of this adventure and we empty our backpacks.)
I'm so glad I got to visit Uncle Abe's final resting place.  It was an emotional moment, not because I knew him, but because it called to mind all the family that was left behind and missed him ... it really makes me wonder how my Grandmother felt when she received the telegram informing her of his death.  I'll never know.   Before we left we attached a small Canadian pin and a small pin from Winker to a handmade Canadian flag already situated at the headstone. Rest in Peace Uncle Abe.