DECORATION DAY

Decoration Day was a big holiday back when I was growing up in Richardson County, Nebraska. Our kitchen was busy for days before we headed out for the day that we really looked forward to. Even me. Growing up alone, you would think I'd rather stay home to play with the kids in the neighborhood, but there was my kind of fun to be had that day.

Today's kids know it as Memorial Day, and most adults as well. The big thing to do that day is to invite your friends over for a bar-b-que.I even hear fireworks going off in the distance, an activity we only thought about on July 4th. No fireworks were sold in our state until a couple of days before the 4th, and it was illegal to fire them any other time. 

Mom and I took inventory in our yard just a few days before May 30 to find out what flowers would be blooming or near blooming
by that day. We didn't go to the store to buy plastic flower arrangements unless we had no other choice. We checked on the peonies, iris, poppies, and tiger lillies, These were the spring flowers that would be blooming at the tim

Grocery lists were made for the potato salad, macaroni salad (the only pasta we ever had),  dozens of eggs for deviled eggs, potato chips (again the only time we ever had chips), gallon jugs to take our kool-aid and iced tea in, unsweet. 

On Saturday afternoon, Mom and I filled 5-gallon buckets half full of water, then we cut as many flowers as we could find that were ready to go to the cemeteries. If we knew we wouldn't have enough, we would plan to stop at some friends' houses in the country near Stella or Shubert to buy extras. 

Decoration Day, always on Sunday, started early with breakfast at the Prairie Union Baptist Church. Across from the church, where my Dad had been baptized years ago, was a fairly large cemetery filled with most of my ancesters from my dad's side. My parents were in their 40's when I was born, so lots of their aunts and uncles were already dead. My brother, Billy, and my sister, Janice, were buried there, and in a few years my dad's parents would be there. For a medium size country cemetery you would think a couple of hours would do it. We were there most of the day.

Immediately after breakfast we walked directly across the road to the statue representing the Unknown Soldier. There was a short speech, Taps, and we were off.

This was the day of the year that relatives from every state in the union who had ancestors here came to pay their respects, and to visit all the other relatives who came. These cousins and aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, and friends spent hours on their feet, walking the whole cemetery, not a small task, passing out flowers to the dead and hugs and kisses to the living. I stuck around just long enough to meet the first batch.

There are some beautiful monuments in that cemetery. And even the plain one held fantastic storie for my enormous immagination. I needed to see the familiar stones first. One was a beautiful stone for a child that had been there since before me. I must check to see it was still there. Then I perused every inch of the place; who was new, who were they, was it anyone the family knew? If I knew someone had died that year, I scoured until I found their place.

Now and then I would run into someone who remembered me and told me how much taller I'd grown. Moving on.

Lots of the family gathered in the basement of the church and brought out all our food. Those who lived close had fried chicken and Jell-o salads. I hit the potato chips and chicken wishbones.

We visited another hour or so, but we still had 3 more cemeteries to visit. We first drove 60 miles or so to Nebraska City, backtracking to a small country cemetery outside of that town, then on to Falls City where my mom had nephews who had died in the war. Falls City had absolutely marvelous monuments, and I delayed leaving there as long as I could.

I've left so much out of my memories for Decoration Day, but I am thinking you've been bored long enough with all this. I absolutely loved it. There was never a more beautiful time of year in Nebraska, unless it rained.  OH! And let's not forget the Indianapolis 500! Dad and I listened on the road, and sometimes snuck away to the car while the ladies visited. So much to do, on Decoration Day, until they made it Memorial Day. Oh, how I miss those good days!