My memory harkens back to the days before holidays floated to a Monday closest to an actual date to celebrate.
I knew that my dad was born on the official Memorial Day, May 31. He had managed to convince me that the date became an official holiday because it was the day he was born. Memorialized forever, this made perfect sense to the littlest version of me. I saw my dear dad as perfectly deserving.
This was our very favorite time of the year throughout my childhood. Planting season created a buzz of activity that made our farm come alive. No matter how long the days, Dad was a happy man when he was planting corn. It carried over into my young adulthood, too. “Dad called and said he finished planting today, so we are going out for dinner together to celebrate tonight,” I remember telling my husband in our early years together.
Dad would remind us, with a wink and a grin, how many shopping days remained before his birthday. Just a couple weeks later, Father’s Day would be celebrated, gathering us together once again.
I ran across a black and white photo recently of my dad with his siblings while visiting his uncle, aunt and their young babies. According to the date on it, Dad would have been 16, finally old enough to drive his car which he’d purchased a year earlier. Dad’s two sisters and brother were all younger than him. Even then, family was so important to my father. It was this same aunt and uncle he took my mother to meet on their first date.
It is this time of year that remains so meaningful that it can become melancholy, all these years later. My father had the quiet ability to draw us together, which is exactly what mattered. He once told me the happiest times of his life were when his family was together under one roof. “If even one is missing, it’s just not the same,” he would say.
As we observe Memorial Day, to mourn and honor the men and women who have died while serving our country, my heart is filled with gratitude to all who have bravely given their life to keep our country free.
We surely have an abundance of reasons to be forever grateful.
