When I was a child
my grandmother used to drag
me to the cemetery every
Memorial Day.
She'd have bunches of Peonies...
coffee cans and mason jars...
and a little hand spade.
She'd go from family grave to family grave..
dig a hole big enough for the receptacle..
send me to the water pump to fetch water for them
and plunk a bouquet of peonies
in each one.
We kind of
made an afternoon of it.
She'd take us from headstone to headstone,
tell us who rested there and give
us a little history about each one.
It would be difficult to do that today.
The restrictions on what is allowed and what isn't
are very strict.
If I want to take a bouquet of flowers..
to put on my husband's grave...
I'd have to purchase the cemetery vase..
and that cost $200.00.
It's kind of sad to see the cemeteries
on Memorial Day
with the graves bearing the
artificial wreaths that will be collected
and discarded the day after.
I just can't bring myself to
'remember' my husband with a
garish display of plastic flowers.
There's got to be a way to build a wreath
from all natural materials..that could be
left to become part of the
grave itself.
I'll have to see what I can figure out...
I think my husband would have
appreciated that.
3 comments:
Wow 200.00 bucks for a vase??! Talk about hosing the grieving family members :(
As you say I'm sure there are wreaths that can be made that will withstand being outdoors year round.
That's a wonderful tradition your family had. I knew a family that would come from all over for "Decoration Day"...I especially like the passing along of history-that's a lost art form...and you're right about today's restrictions. We had a vase built in to Mom's headstone but, real or artificial, someone discards them...frustrating! Where my niece is buried, headstones have to be flat-it's too hard for the landscapers to mow around upright ones...pathetic! If you come up with a good idea, please share...
That's too bad that grieving families have to pay to put their flowers down. I'm sure you'll come up with another way.
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