ME MORE ial Day

For the past 36 years of my life, Memorial Day has meant

• an extra long weekend with the Mr. at home.
• a good excuse to eat hamburgers and fries.
• another reason for the girls to wear their 4th of July outfits.

But things are much different around these sticks.

The day began with a beautiful 5 mile jog. Not like its a beautiful piece of cake for me to get this body moving that far....but the scenery is beaut. I still struggle for every awkward step...but at least I am doing it.

I have to first master the downhill sprint. I always think of those cartoons where Jeri's feet get moving faster than his body and he has to skid to a stop. That is kinda what I look like. I was going so fast by the time I got to the bottom of the hill...that I didn't pay much attention to the quaint cemetery. But as I was scuffling at a snails pace at the end of the 5 miler...I noticed something different.

This cute, humble cemetery was completely transformed. I was mesmerized by the over the top beauty of it all. It was filled with flowers of every kind, balloons, flags, loved ones meandering around (not the deceased loved ones...hopefully).

Golly gee...I thought ME MORE ial Day was about me and having an extra day off. But these Utes made me stop and pause. All the sudden, I wished I was standing at my own sons grave...adorning it with mums, balloons, flags and such. It reminded me of standing for the first time by his isolete in the NICU. Some one gave me a tip to make a name card and have things to adorn his bedside. It was an outward action of an internal feeling. This is exactly what these people were doing. Showing their ancestors and loved ones...what their heart feels.

I wandered through the graves...not only to catch my breath...but to see if I could feel any connection. I made it up to the last section and there was "baby row". I stopped and read each one...

I cried...

Cried for those mommies and daddies who couldn't hold their little ones....

Cried for those babies who didn't get to experience this life...

Cried for me whose baby was so far away....was anyone standing there and reading his grave marker.

Thanks for teaching me that Memorial Day is not about ME and another day off...but about our fallen heros and extending that to our fallen loved ones. sniff sniff

I was humbled once again.

Later we packed up the family car and headed south to Happy Valley, the land of my in-laws. A great gathering of the Vance clan to honor their dear Daddy's birthday and Memorial Day too.

The cousins ran around for hours...Nanna and Grandpa have a great grandkid house outdoors...huge wraparound porch....big play yard complete with 3 separate climbing, jumping, swinging things. Hammocks to get torpedo spun by your big favorite uncles...scaring me half to death to see these babes tossed like no salad spinner could do. Happy Memories.