Two special May holidays

Hi neighbors. May is here and what a month it will be! Two big holidays this month are Mother’s Day on the 14th and Memorial Day on the 29th. In case you’ve forgotten, both of these traditionally involve flowers.

With all of our rain, I don’t know if the flowers in our yards will be blooming by the 14th and even the 29th is iffy if the rains don’t let up. Better plan ahead.

Mother’s Day is always a wonderful holiday for me. Although I no longer have a mother or mother-in-law living, I usually have the day with my children. They are both too old to bring me dandelion bouquets anymore and they often opt for edible bouquets instead. I like those!

They both know that even with no gifts, having the day with both my children (and their spouses) is the best gift ever.

I hope you all have the opportunity to spend the day with your mother. If you can’t be there in person, chat on the Internet, call on the telephone, send a card or letter or even flowers can be delivered if ordered in time. Mothers like to be remembered on that special day.

The second big holiday in May, Memorial Day, is one of my favorites since I’ve gotten into genealogy. One thing I’ve discovered in my research is that almost every cemetery within four counties has family buried there!

I’ve joked with my son that I need to hire a crop dusting plane to drop flower petals on each cemetery to cover all the family graves. That’s a bit extreme, but if I could afford it, that would be more practical.

There are graves in Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee that have family graves that I’ve never visited. Some day — more for the bucket list.

Even if I can’t afford flowers for every family grave, I like to visit the graves with my children and grandchild in tow to tell them about the people buried there. I always hope some of the stories will stick in their memory enough to make them feel a sense of belonging to the family history.

My grandmother would always do this and I remember fondly how she would tell the story, touch the tombstones, and describe something about the deceased’s person or lifestyle. This telling of the family story is a valuable archive and I hope you practice this with your own family history for your children.

Family reunions are popular for Memorial Day. Although my mother’s family lives in Ohio and my father’s family are scattered as well, several show up at cemeteries I visit that day. I always take my laptop and remain at the ready if family members inquire about a deceased loved one.

I always take my camera as well to take photos of visitors I meet and of tombstones in seldom visited cemeteries.

My children have always been patient to accompany me on these excursions. Now it is usually one or the other that go with me. My daughter-in-law is new to genealogy research and likes to go along to hear the family stories.

This year I want to post some messages on social media to say which cemeteries I will be visiting and what time of day on Memorial Day (or the weekend before) in hopes that cousins will show up in the same cemeteries.

I have often had third or fourth cousins I have never met message me months after Memorial Day weekend to say they were at a cemetery I had visited and just missed me! I don’t want that to happen any more.

Of course, as people develop an interest in genealogy they start attending cemeteries they have never visited, often using their annual vacations from work to travel hundreds of miles in the hopes of meeting new cousins.

Anytime I take a vacation I try to locate the graves of family members that I know may be buried near there. I also try to schedule visits with any newly discovered family members.

I think I enjoy genealogy because it is so much like piecing together a puzzle. The frustration lies in the fact that all the pieces are seldom found to complete the picture. It is a worthwhile hobby and I hope several of you enjoy it too.

Until the next time friends remember May’s holidays may take some planning to work out for the most enjoyment, so think ahead and have fun.