Memorial Day Remembrances

[Karen]

Memorial Day has never been for me "just" the start of summer, it has been since my earliest memories, the weekend where we think of the loved ones and service members who have gone on before us, and we visit their graves, tend them, and plant flowers. In past years, Memorial Day Sunday was the date we would spend in Findlay Ohio, at the great Dog Park there, and see Phred with Cinder and Smokey and Bowser, Diana and Amy and Ralph and their dogs, Anna and Mark and Bon one year as well as pretty Roxey, and Huney, Staci and her dog of the moment, Ashley with the amazing jumping Jack, Kimmie and Kia with Chipper - who crunched up the watermelon rind I offered him amazingly fast - and so many others.

Now I picture the spirit of Phred sitting on the Pet Talk bench, entertaining Gini with stories, and plenty of laughter, with all the Pet Talk Rainbow Bridge dogs and cats encircling them, just waiting for the treat that grew magically from Phred's pockets. I think of Sherman, whose golden eyes matched his stunning coat, even if they weren't very good for seeing, and how much he absolutely adored the peanut butter treats I had brought with me, and the not-so-subtle way he would instantly appear at my side when I opened it.

We miss them, but know Phred, Gini, Corinna, Molly, Terry and Jonza are smiling and laughing up at the Rainbow Bridge, and we are thinking of them.

And this is the first Memorial Day without my Dad, who is missed not only by us, but all the dogs of North Oxford, who knew his pockets grew treats for doggies who would "sit"!

[chocolatepuppy]

Very nice post Karen. Sometimes memories are what keeps us going.

[Catty1]

The first of every special day or holiday without a loved one is a strange one - perhaps not quite sad, but one feels a keen awareness of extra space that the loved one's presence had filled. Then sadness, and memories, and surely a smile at one or more of the things remembered.

For the Pet Talkers that have passed - I surely hope there is a heaven or bridge where joy reigns and abounds!

[Husky_mom]

...

sad indeed... wish I had been able to attend and meet em all..

now we'll just wait till our days come and meet in the RB with all our loved ones..

[Freedom]

Memorial Day (Veterans) became Remembrance Day, as we remember all who have gone before us.

Love your image of them all at the RB, Karen.

[Karen]

Just a little story to make you smile, especially Lady's Human.

When we were kids, every last Sunday of Sunday's School in June was "Children's Education Sunday," and all we kids would be given a little marigold in a cup. Every year we'd bring them home, and plant one down by the carrots to deter nematodes, and we'd plant one in the garden up near the porch. Well, a few weeks later, that one blossom had fallen off, and it looked like just a scraggly plant. Year after year, at some point Dad and I would be weeding that garden, and one of us point to it and say, "What's that?" The other would respond, "I dunno, must be a weed," and we'd yank it out. But as it flew through the air to land in growing weed pile in the driveway, one of us would smell that distinct scent and say, "Oh, dang - that was the marigold!" We'd rush out and retrieve it and carefully replant it, but frankly, it never did much after that.

So Saturday, when my big brother was picking up the flowers to plant, the ageratum didn't looks great, so he snagged a flat of yellow marigolds, as they looked good! So after we had finished two of the cemeteries, we went back and planted one bright yellow marigold in front of Pa's stone. The rest of the flowers we always put behind the stone, so it's just one silly marigold by itself, and I know if Ma & Pa are looking down, they will "get it" and everyone else who drives by will likely say, "What the heck?"