Remembering....

We had such a lovely Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday, there was a family reunion for Marty's mom's side of the family. Marty's brother Ryan brought his wife and 5 of their 8 kids down for the reunion and stayed through Memorial Day. We LOVE having them - in fact, we wish they'd bring the whole family - all 10 of them - and just move in for good.

On Saturday morning, we all walked over to the cemetery and put flowers on Marty's mom and dad's graves. Marty's mom died when he was 17. They were very close and it breaks my heart a little every time I think about it. His dad died 3 years ago at the age of 87 and we miss him.

Marty's dad's nickname was Bruin and he was a veteran of WWII. In our very small community, we actually have a whole lot of WWII vets. Every holiday, our town puts up flags in the cemetery for them.


I love the flags.


But when I look out across the cemetery and see them all, it makes me wonder why so many young men were drafted from such a small community. But the cool thing is, almost all of them came back. In fact, I think (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that they all came back except one, who died of disease instead of in battle.

We also have a military commemorative plaque for Marty's dad at the foot of his grave. He served as a forward reconnaissance scout for the artillery and he was wounded and received the purple heart.


(isn't he handsome?)

Ryan also served in the military - the National Guard - for quite a few years. Both he and Marty are such good men. It warms my heart to see them honoring their parents in this way.


There are also a lot of their grandparents and great-grandparents buried in this cemetery. Most of their family goes back to the original founding fathers of this community.

Their grandpa was a blacksmith and has blacksmithing tools and an anvil on his grave site.



I think it's a wonderful thing to have a day set aside to remember and honor our loved ones who have passed on. We love them and hope that we are living up to their legacy.