This weekend is called the “Memorial Day Weekend” or as many refer to it as the “Unofficial Beginning of Summer.” I guess it’s always been that way but growing up my Dad called May 30th “Decoration Day.” As a kid it didn’t make sense to me but thinking back on his routine now it makes a lot of sense. Since Memorial Day didn’t become a Monday Holiday until 1968, Dad always followed the same routine. Early in the holiday week he’d stop at a local garden shop and buy several packages of flowers so he’d be ready for his annual trip to the cemetery to place his purchases on the graves of his lost family members. His father, that he never knew, his sister Ann Marie, his brother Charlie and in later years his Mother and other siblings. As a Veteran of World War II and the Korean War he would drive through the military section of the cemetery on his way home. This routine lasted until he moved to the retirement community and quit driving. Today I understand why he always referred to the holiday by it's original name “Decoration Day.” If the holiday happen to fall on a weekend you would find him and my Mom planting flowers in the yard and Dad ending his yard work by mowing the lawn (until he deemed me old enough for the job). It was also the time for Dad to clean up the car and apply the early year coat of wax. Another ritual was the radio in the garage was on to listen to the broadcast of the Indianapolis 500. I don’t think Dad was ever a race fan but it was a tradition and to this day I can still hear the announcers. While dad tended to the car Mom drug out the old metal chairs for their annual coat of yellow paint (a story for another time). As the day progressed out came the red Weber grille. Charcoal was lit was gasoline so the coals would heat faster and then came the time to cook the T-Bone steaks, baked potatoes and baked beans. I never understood his choice in steaks but they were always cooked to perfection. Dinner was served and as the day wound down you'd find the family sitting on the front porch stretching to see the fireworks from Riverview Park over the trees south of the house. The holiday was always quite simple and never a major event. I think it’s a reflection of who my parents were. No big events, no need to be off on some trip, just a day spent in tradition and family.
Today the news is full of people complaining they can’t do this or that because of a pandemic and some elected official telling them to stay home or limiting the number who can be at the beach or a restaurant or wherever they want to be. Some insist their rights have been taken away and their freedoms limited.
I guess those complaining don’t have a clue what this holiday is about or the fact we celebrate this day to recognize those that made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the very rights some feel have been taken away. God Bless those who have sacrificed everything for me to wish you “Happy Memorial Day.”
May 24, 2020
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