It’s Memorial Day weekend and I know it is a holiday set aside to honor those deceased that served our country, but for me growing up, it was about honoring all dead.
Each and every year, my parents, mom in particular, insisted we visit all the family’s gravesites. Other than my dad, Frank, and his two brothers, John and Tony, we didn’t have many that served in our country’s armed services.
My mother’s brother, Edo Fanti, served as well on her side of the family and of course at an early age, all of my uncles were alive, so we instead honored all of our family that had passed on.
At one time, the holiday was referred to as Decoration Day. The decoration part was simply decorating gravesites of deceased members of the armed services.
I don’t believe it was just my family that practiced decorating all family gravesites. When you get to a cemetery this weekend, you’ll know what I mean. There will be flowers everywhere amongst the U.S. flags flying.
Mom always treated Memorial Day very solemnly. There was always a lot of respect for the dead especially if they served in the government.
Respecting and honoring the dead was big, and much work at the gravesite had to be done. Usually the cemetery owners would cut the grass, but more times than often, we would cut the grass as well.
There was edging and trimming and flowers to plant. If the tombstone was dirty or marked, it had to be cleaned.
When I think of this practice, it sort of makes me feel good to do something for my family even if they were deceased before I was even born.
It might have been two years ago, I was using my cordless trimmer trying to cut away the grass that had practically covered over my great grandfather’s ground marker. There were several of the family markers in the same boat and I felt I had to fix the issue.
I couldn’t help but wonder if my great-grandfather was pleased with what I was doing to his marker to make it better.
When I think of all the people that are choosing to be cremated, many will not have proper burials; some may want to have their ashes spread over a destination like the ocean for example. That makes me sad in a way.
Those folks not having a spot to bury their ashes will be leaving loved ones with no place to go to be honored. I totally respect people’s decision to do what they wish with their ashes, but visiting a gravesite is a rite of passage.
It’s a different day and a different time and some rites of passage are a thing of the past.
I will do my duty and attend to my parent’s graves and hope my mom and dad will be happy that I carry on tradition.
Memorial Day is a day of parades featuring the military. For the second year in a row, there won’t be local parades. Even with us coming out of the pandemic, all parade officials seem to be cautious in their decision to not parade this year.
I believe 2022 will be the year when we will get totally back to normal.
Parades, concerts, Fourth of July fireworks, reunions, live entertainment, no masks, hugging, family and class reunions … it will all happen again, I feel confident.
Speaking of this weekend, I photographed Tiny Learners’ Learning Center’s very first ever graduation.
The event was held at The Slope Amphitheater behind the Pittston Memorial Library, and with threatening rain on its way, the ceremony was held successfully before the rain entered Greater Pittston.
If you’ve never attended a daycare graduation, you’re missing out. The children are adorable and unpredictable as well.
Kelly Argenio and her team featuring daycare veteran teachers Sandy Grove and Sharon Kopetchny do a great job and it was one crazy year to start a new business, but they pulled it off and they did it first class.
Nine children graduated and Kelly told me 10 new students are registered for next year for a net plus one.
I must tell you about my friend, Sandy Grove; Miss Sandy as she’s known to all the students.
Most people struggle to figure out what they want to do when they grow up when they are young. Miss Sandy has been a teacher all of her life since graduating from college.
Sandy didn’t get into teaching for the money. For many years she taught school in the parochial system before finding a home teaching preschool ages.
She was literally born to do what she does and she does it so well. I believe she was born to be a teacher and moreover, a preschool teacher.
You can see the love she has for her job and the dedication to her field. I do believe she was born to be a teacher and those students and the hundreds and hundreds she had before this Class of 2021 received a great education from Sandy.
It’s so important for children to have a great base, a great foundation, and people like Sandy and Sharon and others provide that for many children that have come across their path.
No, Sandy isn’t teaching for the paycheck, she is in it for the children.
Quote of the week
“Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.” – Minor Meyers, Jr.
Thoughts of the week
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” – James Freeman Clarke
Bumper stick
“Follow your passion. It will lead you to your purpose.” – Oprah Winfrey
