MEMORIAL DAY

I am aware that Memorial Day is a day to honor our Veterans and pay tribute to the one's that gave their lives for us.

BUT...when I was a little girl it was one of the highlights of our year.   My mom would get up early and pick as many peonies and she could, put them in a bucket of water and we'd get all dressed up and drive to the cemetary in Ipava.

Here she would decorate her parents graves, my dads parents graves, and my dads grave.   There would be old friends from her youth there and they would all visit for what seemed like hours to me.  If there was a grave with no flowers on it someone would usually find extra flowers to decorate it. 

In this particular cemetary was an old mosoleum.   When I was real small I would always ask to stop there and I would jump out of the car, run over to it and yell, "HELLO".   I loved the silly sound it made never thinking it was not very respectful of the dead.  

One time I took our girls to the cemetary and told them this story.   We got out of the car and went up to it and yelled, "HELLO".   Connie was just a little tyke and she said, "Nobody home".    We got so every time we drove by a cemetary someone would say, "Nobody home".

I realize now what a sad day this is for many people.   I hardly ever get to the cemetary to put flowers on mom's grave.   Sometimes when we are in Illinois I will go and put flowers on it.   I wonder if they still gather there and visit like she and so many others did 60 or 70 years ago.   Somehow I doubt it.