A Memorial Day Story
We made an unplanned visit to my dad's gravesite today. He passed away active duty Navy in 1992 (the same time I was active duty), so it seemed like a perfect day to visit him since:
- Its been a while for me, and
- It's Memorial Day.
It's tough going there for obvious reasons, but more so because my dad died very young (45) and very unexpectedly, so he never got a chance to meet his grandkids. Hell, he never got a chance to meet my wife. And both of those points have always been a big deal for me.
Anyhow, it was the first time we've gone there as a family; myself, my wife, and our 3 boys. Needless to say, Kleenex were on hand. I went to the site myself at first, to spend a few minutes alone with dad. Ugh. So tough. But good at the same time. And when I got there I saw that someone had placed a flag above his headstone and flowers on his grave. I know that my mom didn't do it, so I was confused. I thought it was just something that the cemetery folks did. But no, I was wrong. A family took it upon themselves to buy a bunch (hundreds, likely) of flowers, check each grave to see if they were a veteran, and place some flowers at the grave. The groundskeeper pointed the family out to me and said that when he asked what she was doing, she explained that she was teaching her kids about honoring those who sacrificed their lives for the rest of us so that we could be free. Well damn it if I didn't almost break down again in tears right there. Here's a family who really cares about our servicemen & women, and does something so special and heartfelt that I can't even put it into words. I drove around the cemetery until I found the family who was passing out the flowers and I walked up to the mother (the rest of the family were scattered around, passing out more flowers), shook her hand, and told her how much I appreciated not only what she did for my fathers gravesite, but for all the veterans. Anyhow, I just wanted to share that with you. Happy Memorial Day, and be sure to thank a veteran for their service. Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkadog/3555620330