Ruby was reflecting while she was driving to Mungo's cottage on Saturday morning. "The addition of Mereyann to our family has had a very positive effect on all of our lives" she thought. What brought her to this conclusion was the addition of a breakfast birthday celebration in her honor, now added to the annual family Memorial Day pilgramage to the south.
The entire family met for breakfast at 9 a.m. on Saturday. They ordered from the menu, then sang happy birthday to Meryann and she opened her gifts. After breakfast the restaurant played happy birthday over their music system and brought her a huge donut with a candle in it which was split 11-ways and shared with everyone.
After breakfast they loaded the car with flowers brought by Pearl and Stu Bracegirdle as well as Bella and Berilac, they bid them goodbye and headed south in two cars.
"Many people find decorating graves morbid, but for me, this is a way of honoring our ancestors, and I actually feel gratified by the experience." Ruby said to Mungo.
"I agree", Mungo replied.
The cemetery was ready for the holiday. There was a long flag-lined lane, and many of the graves alreay had flowers on them. The family had become like a well-oiled machine at this process. They arrived at the cemetary, removed the containers from the car. Some got water, some handed flowers to the arrangers and others arrnaged them. The process of finding the graves went quite quickly, and within 1-1/2 hours the task was completed.
They then revisited a former tradition that had been abandoned the last few years, that of a family picnic in the city park. They enjoyed their lunch by the river, walked across the bridge and followed the trails there, and basically just enjoyed the shady, green park for a while before heading back home.
It was another memorable Memorial Day for Ruby.
No comments:
Post a Comment