A cemetery adventure!

When my sister talked to our mom last weekend, Mom was nostalgically recalling the age-old tradition of putting flowers on the graves every Memorial Day.  Mom wasn’t certain that anyone would visit her parents’ graves and plant flowers.  So of course the first thing that popped into Kathy’s thoughts was, ‘Let’s do that!’  So early Saturday morning Chrissy and I picked up Kathy and headed out ‘Home’, stopping to grab a few flats of bright-colored flowers on the way.   We had stopped at the dollar store to grab cold drinks, and Chris picked a small package of modeling clay to keep her entertained. Chris wasn’t entirely certain that she was on board with this, but as the day progressed, she was fully engrossed.

The first stop was in Smicksburg, to ‘visit’ Aunt Hazel, Uncle Gene, baby Norman, uncle Dan Gaston, and Bob Walker.  Chrissy did the digging and was better at turning the dirt than I was.  Each time a flower was planted, we shared with Chrissy a little story that we remembered about that person.  Some were funny, some were sweet.  A firm pat of the soil around the flower, a good dose of water, and we were off.  But before going to the next cemetery, we stopped at the Chocolate Shoppe and got non-perils and chocolate covered peanuts.  Oh yum!  Next was the Smicksburg Country Store, where hot dogs were lunch, and where we also got cheese – my favorite in the world, by the way!  Donna had a star-spangled tree in the store, and it really captured the essence of USA!  I loved it!  But the fun part was that when we turned in the driveway to the store, there was a fair-sized calf just ambling up the road!  We stopped and watched as it wondered around, while the other cows (including an amazing long-horned steer!) stood in the corner of the fence and watched it.  I think they were trying to figure out how to join it!  A bucket of oats tempted our little escape artist, and soon the little guy was safely closed back inside the barnyard. 

Munching cheese and hot dogs, we headed down the lane to the Old Mahoning Baptist Church where Uncle Jim was buried.  More planting, patting, watering, and story-telling.  The last stop was Sagamore, where my grandparents (Jess and Erma Crooks), great grandparents, great aunts and uncles were resting.  We planted the remaining flowers, telling stories, and letting Chrissy look for the names on the tombstones to find our family.  During all this time, we passed Amish farms, buggies, kids playing, animals, clothes on the line — it raised tons of questions for our curious Chrissy, and she really asked good questions. 

On the trip home, she mixed and blended her clay into different shades and patterns, and soon had an entire universe of ‘planets’ arranged on the back of her phone.  So we entertained each other, shared some wonderful memories, and paid honor to people who were so dear to us – and when we called Mom, she was thrilled and delighted, and insisted that we made her day.  There’s nothing better than that.  So here’s to an amazing day spent with precious people, sharing memories of those who will never be gone, as long as there are people to plant flowers and share stories!!!