Memorial Day

What are your traditions on Memorial Day? What truly is the purpose of Memorial Day?

If you look back in history, one would find there are many "ideas" and claims to the start of this day in our Nations history. Some say it started during the Civil War with women in the South laying flowers on the fallen Confederate Graves, while many towns have laid claim to being the birth place of Memorial Day! Where it first started is not important, the true purpose of the day is very important. The day was started to HONOR those who have SACRIFICED their all, specifically our war veterans and those killed in the line of duty. It is a day to honor those who have given their all in the service of our country.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day (The Last Monday in May), the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to 'Taps."

There are several other traditions that have been forgotten over the years! Here are a few of them:

- Wear a RED POPPY to honor those who died serving their country.
- Visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on fallen heroes.
- Fly the U.S. flag at half mass until noon, then raise it to full mass.
- Observe "National Moment of Remembrance" and pause at 3 p.m. for a moment of silence to reflect on the real reason for the day.
- Renew pledge to assist the widow, widower, orphans of our fallen soldiers and aid the injured war veterans.

Memorial Day for some reason was one of my favorite growing up. My family practices the tradition started for many in the 1960s with the day honoring the dead generally. Memorial Day was a day that we visited the cemeteries, cleaned the head stones of grass, weeds, and debris, and placed flowers on our ancestors graves. It is a day for remembering our heritage. I loved doing it, for my mom, it was also a day to meet up with old friends and cousins at the cemetery, catch up, remember, and enjoy our ancestors.

Kaiya until this year has never celebrated Memorial Day as it should be celebrated. Last year, I remember driving past a cemetery here where we live, and thinking that the next Memorial Day, we would be getting flowers and taking them to a grave that was without the next year. I would really want to be in Utah visiting the graves of my relatives, but she would at least know the real reason for Memorial Day!

Lucky for us, we were on our way home from Idaho on Memorial Day, and we got to take flowers to those who have passed on both my father, and mother's side of the family. it was a wonderful teaching moment! And, she is probably going to take after my mom, she LOVES to WANDER around CEMETERIES and look!!

If I can find a way to black out identifying information, I will post pictures of her with the headstones of some of our ancestors.

I hope, that this post, will remind all of us as to why we celebrate this very IMPORTANT DAY, that next year, we might remember the moment of silence, if we cannot get to a cemetery, and honor the fallen heroes! We have so many blessings because of these men and women, as well as because of our own ancestral heroes. I just hope we can pass on the true meaning of Memorial DAY! Still have your family get together, cook outs, but try to find time to recognize and remember the reason.

**Our family always went in the morning to the cemetery, freeing up the afternoon for any gatherings.

After wandering the cemetery, catching up with old friends, and placing flowers, we received a grand tour of my aunts/uncles nursing home they have built. Then, we headed over to my friend's home, not to mention my 2nd cousin, to visit and let Kaiya play with her daughter!! It was lots of fun! We stayed for too long I bet! We enjoyed ourselves! Thank you Tiffany for letting us "crash" the family gathering, and visit and chat! Kaiya had a blast!!!


(will post more pictures soon, if I can black out names, dates, etc).