Decoration Day

My intended next entry is to be an essay of the Congress' recent passage of more money for the President's War in Iraq - but I am in too comfortable and easy of a mood to begin that conversation. It will be an argument - with myself - on the pros and cons of the role of compromise in a government. As a Libra - not that I put stock in such things - I am supposed to be a balancing person, weighing the good and bad, both the clouds and silver linings of each and every event. I try to be level-headed and like to think I am. So, I will not engage myself, or my five faithful readers, with that particular essay today.

As said yesterday, this is Memorial Day weekend, set aside officially to recognize our fallen soldiers; but, before it was Memorial Day, it was Decoration Day, especially in the South. The tradition in my family is to visit the dead, clean the graves, and place some flowers. Such it is a grand tradition. The most important people in my life who have gone on to their rewards, are buried in two different places, and all but one in one place. Most are buried in th Sunset Memorial Gardens, a cemetery located along US 60, just south of Frankfort, and just inside the Woodford County line, on the east side of the highway. Interred there are my grandparents who raised me, as well as their parents, many of their brothers, sisters, aunt, uncles, nieces, and nephews, as well as not a few of their former spouses and their kin. In one area of the cemetery, I have about 40 relatives all gathered together to one day cross over to the other side, It will someday, but not anytime soon hopefully, host the grave of my mother. The other place I will visit today is the grave of my friend Rob Spears, who died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1991 at the age of 17. He is buried in Rest Haven Cemetery, which is on the southwest side of Bardstown Road, just beyond the community of Buechel. I miss Rob dearly.

I have family and friends elsewhere. My mother's ancestors occupy spaces throughout Franklin, Shelby, and Anderson counties. My Noble grandparents are in the Louisville Memorial Gardens in Shively. My Uncle Don is in Calvary Cemetery. My great-grandmother Gussie's family are in the Eastern Cemetery, the long abandoned spanse of land just north of Cave Hill. Further back relatives in her line are scattered through southwestern Jefferson County and into Bullitt and Meade. Others friends are buried at Cave Hill and elsewhere. I know all this because genealogy is a passionate avocation and I've visited gravesites all my life. So, this weekend will be no different.

To all of them, and to all who have gone on, Rest In Peace.