The meaning of Memorial Day…

a day on which those who died in active military service are remembered, traditionally observed on May 30 but now officially observed on the last Monday in May. Also called (especially formerly) Decoration Day.…

Now that we are Moving Forward in Retirement with Disabilities, we realize that this special day means different things to different people. Some may say it is a day we honor all who have lost their lives in the military service. Others may add that it is the day we honor all the people that have gone before them.

Everyone has a different way of honoring these special people. It may be from putting a flag on a veteran’s grave to having the local florist deliver a cemetery basket. We have done both. And we honor all ways of celebrating Decoration Day.

We do not live in our old hometown which makes it more difficult to go to the graves, clean the headstones and water the baskets. Curly and I have tried to do other things as well but somehow it always gets mixed up.

Flowers get stolen, weather plays a part, so the plants die after the florists are reimbursed for watering. It seems it is just one thing after another. This year we have decided to remember our loved ones with a dinner held in their memory, plants and decorations in our backyard on the patio. From the time we have our morning coffee until we go to bed, we can be reminded that it is Memorial Day weekend, and this is special. Our Red, White, and Blue will be decorating our home and patio.

Our youngest granddaughter, Brynn, and her mom, Linae, will be here for a visit so we can share our thoughts and traditions with them.

As a child I remember going to the Memorial Day parade in West Duluth, then heading over to the local park where there would be different readings from every branch of the military service. As we grew in age our West Junior band would play patriotic music. After that we headed up to the cemetery and placed the flowers on the graves. Sometimes this was done a few days before as my mother wanted to be sure people knew she cared about her deceased family.

Moving Forward in our own family, we did the parks with our daughters in Stillwater/Bayport area. Then it was followed by a family style picnic for the St. Croix Valley Barbershopper’s that sang the patriotic songs at the local parks after the veterans and maybe an elementary student shared their incite on our country.

However, you choose to spend this special day…honoring the military, family or friends…take time to

give thanks and ask God to Bless the USA!