A Photo Journal of May

As we begin a new month, today's post is a short photo journal of the many things we celebrate this next 31 days. Use these memory triggers to write another family story or two or three to add to your Family Memories Book. Or maybe you don't have one yet. This is the perfect time to begin!

May Basket

Today is May Day. It's not celebrated now as much as it once was. In my grade school days, teachers had us make May baskets of various kinds that we then filled with flowers or candy to present to others. Even when my children were small, the neighborhood kids made constrcution paper cones, stapled a handle on it and filled with candies. Then, they'd run onto a porch and hang their offering on the door handle, ring the bell and run away as fast as they could. What fun they had!

Dancing Around the Maypole

Dancing around a maypole started back in the 14th century as a pagan ritual. It somehow survived but with some adaptations, becoming less pagan and more a celebration of spring. I remember reading about this custom when I was just a young girl and thinking how exciting it would be to hold onto a colorful ribbon and dance my way around the center pole with other girls. The closest I ever got was the High Flyers playground equipment. No ribbons but I thought of the maypole at tiems when I ran fast and grabbed hold of ond of the handles and lifted my feet while I went round and round the pole in the center. I haven't seen a playground with a High Flyer on it for a long time. Must have been deemed too dangerous. Maybe, but it sure was fun!

Mother's Day

We also celebrate Mother's Day in May. Hallmark and other greeting card companies sell a zillion cards in May. Telephone lines are buzzing on the second Sunday in May. Families gather in restaurants to give Mom a break from cooking. Children make gifts in school to bring to Mom. One of my fondest memories is of my son bringing me a small paper cup with a tiny green plant imbedded in soil. He must have been in second or third grade. I think the paper cup had been decorated with crayons. He carried it carefully into the house on the Friday before Mother's Day and handed it to me, his eyes shining. I have no green thumb. Every houseplant I've ever had gasps and dies not too long after coming into my possession. When I saw the plant, I thought it would never survive til Father's Day! But that tiny piece of Swedish Ivy lived and grew in my house for more than 30 years after it was given to me with love from my son. It ranks as #1 in favorite Mother's Day gifts.

May Birthdays

In our extended family, May is a big month for birthdays, my own included. I've always been happy to celebrate my birthday in May. It's a lovely month. Even the northern states have better weather this month. We celebrate birthdays with cake and candles, gaily wrapped gifts and greeting cards along with family gatherings. 

Many graduations take place in May, earlier than those of yesteryear. One more thing to celebrate in this month of May. The recognition of years of work as diplomas and degrees are conferred upon the graduates while their familes and friends watch. Another joyous May occasion.

Honor Those Who Served

Finally, we celebrate Memorial Day on the last Monday of May. We pause to remember those who served and lost their lives while doing so. Ceremonies abound in our entire country on that day. It has also become a time when familes visit cemeteries where loved ones are buried. They place flowers on graves, pause and remember. Others fly the American flag on this day as a sign of remembrance. 

Recognition and Appreciation

Keep this in mind

In our church service this morning, the pastor asked all active military and veterans to stand and be recognized in honor of Armed Forces Day. My husband got to his feet as did many other men and a few women. The pastor said what many in the congregation were thinking--Thank you for your service to our country. It only took a moment, but I think many who were in attendance will think about it today.

Memorial Day will be celebrated in only a week's time. This week gives you time to write a story, a tribute, an essay or a poem to honor our veterans. You can send it to your local newspaper or you can include it in your family memory book. It's probably too late to get it published elsewhere for this year, but you might save it in a file and submit it early next spring to an appropriate magazine or ezine. 

Last year, I sent something I'd written to the Kansas City Star for a column they run called As I See It. I didn't know the short essay had been accepted until I opened my newspaper on Memorial Day morning. Several people in our community thanked me for writing it.

Consider showing your appreciation to a veteran or an active military member in whatever way you can. You can do it as formally or informally as you like. If nothing else, a smile as you pass a soldier in the grocery store aisle is worth a lot. I'm fortunate to live near a military  post so I encounter people in uniform frequently. They're a part of my community and I'm grateful to have them. I can make a batch of brownies and leave them with an officer's wife who sees that they are used during deployment times when families gather to send off their loved ones. Simple things like that give needed support.

Keep in mind all the military does now and what those veterans of several wars and peacetime efforts have given to you. Some of the freedoms we take for granted are there because of our military. 

Take Time To Rmember

Last night we watched the annual Memorial Day Concert in Washington, DC. This outstanding tribute to our military and their families is something Ken and I try to watch every year. The one we saw last evening ranks as one of the very best. The music and the performers were top-notch as always, but the individual stories they chose to highlight were exeptionally well done. One was of two soldiers who had been in the Korean War while the other showed us another side of war, that of the widows left to grieve a husband who gave his life for his country. And yes, I did need to go get Kleenex more than once. I find these tributes extremely moving, and no matter how hard I try, I can't keep the tears from falling.

Ken and I talked about how fortunate we both were to have been raised in families where patritotism ranked high on the list of values our parents taught us. From the time we were very small children, we learned to love America and all she stands for. We learned to support and honor our miitary, whether actively serving or veterans or fallen heroes. Our schools re-enforced those same teachings. We both went to grade school during WWII and high school during the Korean Conflict, as it was termed. Not a war, only a conflict.

When these patriotic holidays come around, we know we will see countless songs, stories, essays, articles and poems that highlight the day. The writers who have shared their words commemorating holdiays like Memorial Day write with emotion and even passion, so there are some excellent pieces that have been published. Newspapers often feature a story relating to Memorial Day. Take time to read them. They'll do your heart good.

Last year, an essay of mine was published close to Veteran's Day that urged people to remember that the military men and women are more than a number. They are real people like you and me. I shared the essay here at the blog. For those who may have missed it, you can read it today. It's one I'm proud of, one I wrote from the heart. Take time in the day's activities to pay tribute to the military who represent all of us around the world in conflict after conflict. And remember families who wait at home, praying for their  safe.return.

More Than A Number

                                                                By Nancy Julien Kopp

The men and women in our armed forces are not numbers in a newspaper article. Each one that deploys leaves behind parents, sisters and brothers, spouses and children, as well as myriad friends. They are not numbers; they are people. They laugh, they cry, they love, they endure hardships, they work hard. They are human beings with all the emotions you and I experience. They sweat, they like to eat three times a day or more, they enjoy fellowship with others, they pray, they shake with fear more often than we’ll ever know. They are warm, living beings—not numbers in a newspaper account.

How often do we read that another brigade has deployed? Numbers? No, not numbers, that brigade is made up of people who smile, cry, tell jokes, treasure the photos they carry of loved ones. They have headaches and stomachaches like you and me. They get slivers in their fingers and bruises on arms and legs. They’re no less vulnerable to physical ailments than you or I, but they face dangers we have never dreamed of.

I live near an army post, so I see uniformed soldiers everywhere I go. They stop at the grocery store on their way home from work just like teachers and attorneys and librarians do. They pick up their children at soccer fields as a civilian mom or dad does. We are all very much alike, except for one thing. These soldiers, male and female, have volunteered to serve, to protect our country at home and in foreign lands, to perhaps put their life in danger while doing so.

Have you ever thanked a soldier or marine or sailor? Maybe you’d feel uncomfortable walking up to a total stranger and saying, “Thanks for all you do for me and the rest of America every day.” What a great gift it would be if you could say that or something like it to a member of the armed forces. Think about it the next time you see an American in uniform.

A couple years ago, my husband and I were returning from a European trip. We were tired and anxious to get through customs when we landed in the USA. As we approached the passport checkpoint, a door opened and an entire unit of uniformed soldiers filed through. They were returning from Iraq, an even longer flight than we’d had. We stopped and watched these fatigued young men and women as they walked by us. Some nodded and smiled, others stared straight ahead. Some I could barely see for the tears that had filled my eyes. I wanted so badly to say Welcome Home to them, but the lump in my throat didn’t allow it. The pride that encompassed me at that moment cannot be described. I was every soldier’s mother for just an instant.

And what about the ones who didn’t return to walk through that airport door? The ones who came home in a body bag or a wooden coffin. My pride in them is every bit as strong along with a deep and abiding gratitude in what they gave for the rest of us. They sacrificed so that we can keep living in a free country. Yes, we Americans have many disagreements, but, even so, we are blessed in numerous ways.

Don’t wait for Veterans Day or Memorial Day, take time to say thank you to a military person. Say it in person or say it in your heart, but please say it.



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