Memorial Day Memories

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When I was a small child (around 7 or 8) my mother and I lived with my maternal grandparents. Each Memorial Day my Uncle Fred would come over and help me and my grandmother load bouquets of flowers into the bed of his Chevy truck, and then he would take us around to several cemeteries, both in Boise and in Homedale, and maybe another one that I have forgotten. I can still remember many of the plots we would stop at. There was a special doctor that grandma always left some flowers for. He had been kind to her in her efforts to help impoverished and malnourished people down through the years. Some soldiers who had come to the house for dinner during the wars and after. And so many others I have since forgotten. When I grew up and had a family of my own, I continued this tradition. I recall a young teen I had known in school who had been in an auto accident at such a young age. Her name was Linda, and I always leave a bouquet at her grave. She was pretty and interesting. So sad that she left us so early. Then there was grandma and grandpa, my great aunt, my uncle, a dear friend of the family, and the list goes on. Those were at one cemetery, and then my dad was at another. Mom was cremated, and my daughter and I drove up to the mountains to let her ashes go out into the fresh air, as that had been her wish. It is a melancholy time, but remembering them all with such joy. I've known some great folks in my 74 years on this planet. I wish I could make it to my BFF's grave, but my thoughts are with her on the day coming up. Her birthday is in June. She would have been in her 80s. Do you have loved ones you remember on Memorial Day? Sweet memories that call you back to another time?