Oh-Bla-Di

Memorial Day is big in my family. We all get together twice a year – Christmas and Memorial Day. For as long as I can remember, we’ve gathered at the family farm on Memorial Day to visit our family at the Pleasant Valley cemetery and then to enjoy a great potluck lunch. I love these gatherings. They are truly home to me. My people are there.

We meet at the cemetery on Monday morning and visit those we knew and those we didn’t. Grammie Webb, Grandpa and Grandma Webb are there and now Auntie and Unkie have joined Raenetta beside them. We say hi to these people we love and then wander to say hi to Slave Girl Hattie, who has been there at least one hundred years, and the little girl with the flat, broken stone. It’s comfortable in this place – not scary or creepy or cemetery-like at all. This is a gathering of family.

On Memorial Day, flags line the center walkway of the cemetery. Until this year, Unkie had taken charge of hanging the flags. Each one represents a member of this rural community who had served…several of them my family. The flags whip in the wind (and the wind always blows on Memorial Day) and truly bring the meaning of the day to our hearts and minds. This year, Unkie’s flag joins the rest.

Now, at Memorial Day, a new generation of little kids is learning about our family and our traditions. They’re learning to count by playing lawn chair volleyball and getting to do that thing that makes farm kids special – run amok and get dirty. I love that Ava got to meet so many of her cousins. Somehow, they knew they were family and there wasn’t a single quibble or clingy kid. What a treasure photos like these are.