Full Circle

[After spending the last few days with Tom, Leanne & Garth and their two lovely children, I have such an appreciation for family and the knowledge of a life after this. Watching Leanne attend to her Mother's every need and listening to the sweet words of love an encouragement that she whispered was heart-rending. We all shared stories, laughs about funny things Margie said or did, and tears. Leanne reminded me and others, that her Mother was the one who stepped in to take care of me when my Mother was ill and how much she and Tommy wanted to raise me after her death. Much later, I did spend some months with them when I was in Junior High. I love and appreciate the great love between Margie and Tom - they have been together 59 years - and Margie always said she felt blessed and was so thankful to be able to "spend her life with the love of her life"! They grew up together, made a life together, and grew old together - never regretting a piece of that life. We will miss her.]

I started this entry back in September of last year and couldn't remember why I didn't post it - but when I tried to post it today, I noticed that there were some comments on it...so it must be my 'oldtimers' kicking in. I posted and undid it for some reason. But with it being Memorial Day weekend, I thought it would be nice to re-enter it into the blog with the thoughts and love that we have for our family and friends whose physical attributes we do not see, but whose spirits we feel daily.

I really do wish that holidays were not messed with! Memorial Day should be on a set date - where people have the day off from work, and families can gather at the cemetaries to remember and tell stories of their loved ones. There seems to be no tradition to this particular day - other than people figuring it is a 4-day weekend to take off for their first trip of the season. I remember as a young child, the preparation to find and cut flowers to arrange into baskets to take to the gravesites. If we didn't have what we needed from our yards, we would pick up a bunch of peonies or iris, along with filler like bridal wreath, forsythia, lilacs, etc. from stops along the road. Memorial day was a wonderful day to visit with relatives you hadn't seen {sometimes, since the last year}, go to a family members home for a BBQ, and spend the day just getting re-acquainted with family. It was an excellent time to hear stories of those relatives who had died that we might not have known. It involved a game of having the kids do rubbings on the headstones to ensure that the information on them was correct and taken home to be put into the pages of the family history. I remember people actually dressed up to go to the cemetaries - it was their way of showing respect for those who were gone.