In this particular blog posting, I want to say thank you to all that are serving and have served in our military. You have done and are doing a wonderful thing putting your lives on the line for people like me. My grandpas were service men, great grandfather, and some great great great uncles in the Civil war.
Thank you again. God bless you and your families!!
Showing posts with label Memorial Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memorial Day. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
*sigh*
The end of another work week is almost upon me, one more day and then I get to see my sister-friend Jennifer! Pending nothing goes wrong for us!! So please God if you hear me or if you read this, please!!
Today I also went to the cemetery to place the crosses and astroturf on the great-great uncles graves in honor of Memorial Day. Just like I have every year since I can remember. This year was a little different tho. I took my mom with me. It made it a bit more special since I got to spend this humble time with someone I love. We wandered a bit thru the older part of the cemetery. It was a saddening experience...The weeds that have grown thru there are atrocious. Headstones weren't bad but I would love to see some of them refurbished. It was also sad seeing how many children are buried there. Some months, some days, some even still born with no names. Just "baby of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so." It was a time that health care and child delivery wasn't great, I know this but its still heart breaking none the less.
After this we went over and visited my grandparents, great-grandparents, and the uncle I never got to know. He is one of the still born children that is buried in our Valley View Cemetery. I miss him. My grampa. Hard to believe that he's been gone almost 11 years. But you know that... I almost cried there today because I used to visit him more regularly after I returned from school..now its so infrequent, I'm ashamed that I don't pay my respects more often..he was a great man..such a big heart and a warm smile. He's a treasure that I hold near and dear to my heart. <3
Today I also went to the cemetery to place the crosses and astroturf on the great-great uncles graves in honor of Memorial Day. Just like I have every year since I can remember. This year was a little different tho. I took my mom with me. It made it a bit more special since I got to spend this humble time with someone I love. We wandered a bit thru the older part of the cemetery. It was a saddening experience...The weeds that have grown thru there are atrocious. Headstones weren't bad but I would love to see some of them refurbished. It was also sad seeing how many children are buried there. Some months, some days, some even still born with no names. Just "baby of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so." It was a time that health care and child delivery wasn't great, I know this but its still heart breaking none the less.
After this we went over and visited my grandparents, great-grandparents, and the uncle I never got to know. He is one of the still born children that is buried in our Valley View Cemetery. I miss him. My grampa. Hard to believe that he's been gone almost 11 years. But you know that... I almost cried there today because I used to visit him more regularly after I returned from school..now its so infrequent, I'm ashamed that I don't pay my respects more often..he was a great man..such a big heart and a warm smile. He's a treasure that I hold near and dear to my heart. <3
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Grandpa memories...
This time of year always brings back memories for me. Memories of my grampa, probably my favorite person in the world. He got me in a way that no one since has. He has been gone now almost 11 years, and I still miss him like he just left. He and I would spend our friday afternoon before Memorial Day cleaning up his uncles and his parents's graves at the cemetary, preparing for the holiday. To this day I still do it. I can't help it, I feel that its my place and my honor to do so.
As a child, my sister, grandpa, and I would do it, though I didn't understand why. As years went by, Cheryl quit joining us. I'm thinking it was because she had "better things" to do, as she was becoming a teenager. But I continued to do it, even in high school.
Grampa was a World War II veteran, fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I wish I could've learned about his experiences during the war and as a POW, but he never spoke much of it. He was a quiet man, I think thats why I loved him so much. As a child I was really quiet myself, that is unless you knew me pretty well.
Grandpa loved to garden. I mean really loved to. He did have 2 of them.. hahaha One in his backyard, the other at their house at Topaz. He grew just about everything! Tomatoes, melons, strawberries, raspberries, asparagus just to name a few. My favorites were the strawberries and raspberries. In a scrap book that I still have, is a picture of me in the raspberry plants at Topaz. My grandma also told me that one time they found me sleeping underneath the bushes.
Memorial Day weekend was the first official weekend of summer fun at the lake. We would play in the water as long as the weather would hold out. It was also the first offical bbq time of the season. Dad or Grampa would cook burgers and hotdogs, gramma would make salads, cut up berries and veggies, and chips would be put out.
My sister, many cousins, and I spent many happy years up at the lake. Until we lost grampa...that was a tough loss for me. I lost my comrade. He had fallen and broken his neck at Topaz, though it did not kill him, it brought him closer.. He was taken to Washoe Medical and the first night there he was pumped full of pain killers his old body wasn't used to. He didn't remember anyone and that just broke my gramma's heart, his wife of almost 50 years. He spent the last weeks of his life there. Towards the end, he started recognizing faces again. But he never left there alive. One week after my high school graduation, he passed on to the next world.. I cry thinking about it.. he didn't deserve to go in such a manner.
His funeral was attended by many. The church was full, people standing up the sides, even people standing outside in the early summer sun. Many wonderful things were said, I learned some new things about him. But the ending is whats memorable. To end on a happy note, we sang "Take me out to the Ballgame" as he was a huge San Fransisco Giants fan. The funeral director even mentioned that this was the first funeral he did that ended on a happy tone. This was the last funeral he directed. But he's a story for another day...
As a child, my sister, grandpa, and I would do it, though I didn't understand why. As years went by, Cheryl quit joining us. I'm thinking it was because she had "better things" to do, as she was becoming a teenager. But I continued to do it, even in high school.
Grampa was a World War II veteran, fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I wish I could've learned about his experiences during the war and as a POW, but he never spoke much of it. He was a quiet man, I think thats why I loved him so much. As a child I was really quiet myself, that is unless you knew me pretty well.
Grandpa loved to garden. I mean really loved to. He did have 2 of them.. hahaha One in his backyard, the other at their house at Topaz. He grew just about everything! Tomatoes, melons, strawberries, raspberries, asparagus just to name a few. My favorites were the strawberries and raspberries. In a scrap book that I still have, is a picture of me in the raspberry plants at Topaz. My grandma also told me that one time they found me sleeping underneath the bushes.
Memorial Day weekend was the first official weekend of summer fun at the lake. We would play in the water as long as the weather would hold out. It was also the first offical bbq time of the season. Dad or Grampa would cook burgers and hotdogs, gramma would make salads, cut up berries and veggies, and chips would be put out.
My sister, many cousins, and I spent many happy years up at the lake. Until we lost grampa...that was a tough loss for me. I lost my comrade. He had fallen and broken his neck at Topaz, though it did not kill him, it brought him closer.. He was taken to Washoe Medical and the first night there he was pumped full of pain killers his old body wasn't used to. He didn't remember anyone and that just broke my gramma's heart, his wife of almost 50 years. He spent the last weeks of his life there. Towards the end, he started recognizing faces again. But he never left there alive. One week after my high school graduation, he passed on to the next world.. I cry thinking about it.. he didn't deserve to go in such a manner.
His funeral was attended by many. The church was full, people standing up the sides, even people standing outside in the early summer sun. Many wonderful things were said, I learned some new things about him. But the ending is whats memorable. To end on a happy note, we sang "Take me out to the Ballgame" as he was a huge San Fransisco Giants fan. The funeral director even mentioned that this was the first funeral he did that ended on a happy tone. This was the last funeral he directed. But he's a story for another day...
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