Memorial Day.......

This is Memorial Day weekend in our country. It is a holiday. People have the day off work. Banks and government offices are closed. Schools are closed. Families go on vacation or just take the weekend to spend time together.
Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor our veterans. My Dad served in WWII aboard the aircraft carrier USS Windham Bay. Our son served in the air force during operation desert storm.
There will be parades and bar-b-ques. Picnics and fishing trips. This is the day that officially starts the summer season. The public swimming pool opens for the season. Hotels convert to their "summer" rates. We all have our family traditions surrounding Memorial Day. As a child I remember Mom and Dad  loading us all up to go "down home". (That meant going to where they were raised in southeast Iowa.) There would be Aunts and Uncles and cousins to visit and play with. Mom and Dad always took flowers to place on  the graves of relatives who had passed on. There was always a BIG family dinner that included homemade ice cream for desert, along with home baked pies. The cousins would vie for the chance to "set" on the ice cream freezer while my Uncle turned the crank. Then we hung out in the kitchen, when it was finished, hoping to be the one chosen to "lick" the left over ice cream from the freezer paddles.

Daniel's parents are buried in Beatrice, Ne. It was very important to him to honor them by placing flowers on their graves on Memorial Day. Beatrice, Ne was about two and a half hours from where we lived. We would plan for the trip and make a day of it. First stop was Rock Port, Mo to have breakfast at the truck stop there. (they also have good fried chicken gizzards) :)  Next stop was at Auburn, Ne to take pictures of the beautiful flags on display there. (see pictures below) Sometimes we went through Nebraska City to stop at the large flea market there. Daniel loved books. He  always came away from there with a few books he was sure he didn't  have. On then to Beatrice. Decorating the graves, taking some pictures, and having a bite of lunch were next on the agenda. He drove home while I took a nap.
One of the things he regretted about moving to Washington State was the fact that he would not be able to decorate his parents graves on Memorial Day. Last year I visited the mid west, and that is one of the things I did for him. It was very hard to go to his parents graves with out him. Decorating the graves was such an important thing to him, that I wanted to make it happen not realizing how hard it would be. It wasn't the fun weekend we had always had in the past. The sense of loss was overwhelming.
We can place beautiful head stones with flowery words at the last resting place of our loved ones, and go there to visit. We can take flowers and decorations to honor them. But all this does not fill the void that is left by their absense.Of all the memories I have of Memorial Day weekend, I never thought they would include going to my husband's place of rest.
I guess Memorial Day is a day of remembering. Honoring those who fought for our freedoms. Honoring those whom we have loved and laid to rest. Honoring those who are still with us by getting together as family. Make some memorial day memories. They will come back to comfort you some day.

Mother's Day.........

I am remembering the day our son was born. 10-10-70. Isn't it funny how babies come along at what seems to be an inopportune time? Daniel and I were going through a difficult financial time in 1970. We were living in a small trailer house in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Daniel was out of work. I had been so concerned about our problems that did not even pay attention to the fact that I really was not feeling good most of the time those days.  Finally, I decided I should go to the Dr.  That was a big decision, because we did not have insurance or any money. When the Dr. told us I was pregnant, Daniel was thrilled and I was worried. How would we take care of a baby?  But, as they say, life goes on.

Some women sail through pregnancy with flying colors. Never a sick day or moment. I, was NOT one of those women. As I said, we lived in a very small trailer at the time. It was exactly two steps from the bed to the bathroom. I could set on the toilet and puke in the sink. (ewwwww! my grand daughter would say TMI grandma) Mornings were awful!  My Daniel was a morning person. He loved breakfast. Not just cereal or toast, but a full blown bacon, eggs, fried potatoes etc... breakfast.  About the time I felt I could lift my head from the pillow, Daniel would start his breakfast.  The smell of bacon cooking and potatoes frying would turn my stomach upside down. I was only too glad to know the bathroom was  only two steps away.

Daniel continued to be out of work that year. Finally circumstances warranted us to move to Iowa where my family lived. He manage to get work right away, and we moved into a small apartment. It was August. August in Iowa is very hot and humid, and our apartment did not have air conditioning. Some days I would visit my parents who had a wonderfully cool air conditioned house. Other days that was not an option. I had to come up with some cooling methods of my own. By this time I was seven months pregnant and miserable. Daniel would come home from work to find me like a beached whale in the bath tub filled with cold water.

September brought us some cooler temps. We continued to make preparations for the arrival of our baby.  When that day came, it was snowing and cold. We hurried from Council Bluffs, Ia across the river to St Joseph's hospital in Omaha, NE.
I will never forget the first time we saw our son. Daniel would have busted all the buttons if there had been any on his shirt, he was so proud.  My first thought was, he looks just like his Dad. And, that was a good thing,
October 10, 1970 Daniel and I became parents. Did we make mistakes along the way? Oh yes. Daniel left the baby in the grocery cart in the store once. :) When he got in the car, I said "Where's the baby?" The look on his face was pure panic. He rushed back into the store and there was the baby sitting the cart right were Daniel had left him.  :)
When our son was just a few weeks old, Daniel slipped and fell on the ice in front of my sister's apartment. He was holding the baby. Daniel ended up flat on his back with the baby on his chest. My sister and I ran out to him and grabbed up the baby We rushed inside took off all the blankets and clothes, examed him all over  to see if he was hurt. We forgot all about Daniel laying out there on the ground. :) He teased us about that for years.
Daniel was a good father. He raised a good son.
There really isn't a "road map" for parenting. Yes there are all kinds of how to books out there. The bottom line is one from the Bible. "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. " That takes time and patience and most of all love.  You can't train up a child if you are only a part time father. It is a full time job.
Humm this sounds more like a father's day post than a mother's day post. :)