Tag Archives: Memorial Day

Three Thoughts on Memorial Day

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As it is Memorial Day I am taking full advantage of the holiday, which includes taking it easy on my blog. However, I do want to leave you with a few thoughts for you to read if you are outside grilling or inside watching baseball.

First, I thought I would reiterate that I love three day weekends that end on a Monday. While it is nice of course to enjoy a Friday off, when you have a Monday holiday it makes the following work week so much more bearable. Friday weekends just deliver on one end. You look forward to it the week leading up to it but when Sunday rolls around it is all over. On a Monday three day weekend you look forward to it all week long and then it makes the next week more enjoyable by shortening the work week to four days. I just really feel that a Monday three day weekend gives you more bang for your buck than a Friday one.

Second, Sidney and I are now one week away from our wedding week. CRAZY. The stress is starting to seep in just a little bit. Of course it is a good stress, though. How else would you categorize family coming in, constant activities taking place, a beautiful ceremony on June 11, and then a Cancun honeymoon to immediately follow? We are currently in the midst of one of the best times we will ever have in our lives.

Third, I thought I would weigh in on the death of Harambe, the gorilla that was killed over the weekend when a 4-year-old boy fell into his exhibit. I apologize to the people who side with the primate, but I am all for taking extreme precautions to save the life of someone’s young kid. I trust the response team when they said the gorilla was agitated and that attempting to tranquilize it could have caused disaster for the boy. You hate to see a grand animal such as Harambe lose his life but how can’t you justify it when you see a toddler violently and unpredictably dragged around? It was definitely a very sad and very tough case.

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Enjoy your Memorial Day! Thank you to the brave men and women of this great country who paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could enjoy the freedoms and liberties we do each day. Don’t Blink.

Happy Memorial Day

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Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful extended weekend and have a nice gear up for the summer season.

Yes, I will be having fun this Memorial Day Weekend but I do remember a time when I actually honored what Memorial Day is all about. My family comes from Walla Walla, Washington. We still have a lot of family living down there. When my grandparents were still living, we would usually go down to Walla Walla to spend the weekend with them. I still remember the Memorial Day trips to the history-filled cemetery with my grandma. As I have said before, I have a fascination with cemeteries and I think that interest really sparked with these Memorial Day outings. Anyway, my brother, sister, and I would get in the car with my grandma and we would drive to Mountain View Cemetery. Armed with probably a dozen different plants we would make the rounds. We would go to the Catholic portion of the yard and we would go right to the plot reserved for all of the priests. Grandma would put a plant on a couple of the stones of the most recently deceased priests who had served her parish church, St. Francis of Assisi. Then, we would go to the Italian section of the cemetery (right next to the Catholic section of course), and pay respects to her (our) family. We would put plants on the tombstones of her siblings and my grandpa’s siblings and other relatives who had passed. At each stop she would talk to the tombstone, and if it was someone who we had never met, she would “introduce” us. These chats were always very sweet and filled with love. Lastly, in the early years, she would visit the gravesite of her deceased daughter. Unfortunately, by the time I was thirteen, she was visiting the gravesites of two of her daughters. These were definitely very sad and emotional times, and believe me, the significance was not lost on a thirteen year old boy.

This weekend I am off to Seattle for the Mariners-Angels series. As I write this, I am in Spokane at my parents’ house.  Last night after work I traveled from Missoula to Spokane. After a great night of hospitality bestowed on me by my parents, I am just about ready to head out the door to Ellensburg where I will meet my brother. After lunch, we will make the short drive to Seattle. We will be watching the games tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday so we will definitely get our baseball fix in.
Once again, Happy Memorial Day! What a great time to honor and remember everyone has passed on, especially the brave souls who have served our country in the armed forces. Have a safe holiday and take some time to reflect. Don’t Blink.