I think one of the reasons I love traditions so much is because when I was growing up, my parents always tried to make traditions a part of my brothers and my life. One of those traditions on Memorial Day was to buy flowers and go to the Marietta National Cemetery and decorate the graves of those who had fallen on our behalf, fighting for our freedoms. As a child I remember always wanting to put my flowers on the grave of an Unknown Soldier. It felt to me that one who lost their life in service of their country, whose name wasn't even known, needed my little gesture of love even more. I am so grateful for that tradition my parents gave me. This year I decided the girls were old enough to understand and were ready for me to pass it on to them. So we piled in the van and drove down to them same cemetery I walked with my family as a girl. Justin and I told the girls to quietly walk among the gravestones and for each of them to choose two graves to place flowers on.
Since Maryn began reading her world has opened up and she is constantly drinking in as much as she can into that thirsty little mind of hers. She walked around reading the gravestones, pondering, wondering much like her Mom and Dad about the lives lived before hers.
Brynna took a moment to remind me not to talk. I had told them this place was special, like church, and that we needed to be reverent.
Like me as a child with the Unknown Soldiers, Maryn and Brynna were drawn to the graves of infants. They felt these little ones whose lives were so short, needed their little tokens of love and so they placed their flowers there.
Brynna would ask us to tell her the stories on the gravestones. Justin told her this man's name and said that he had served in four wars. She thought he definitely needed her flower.
Maryn recognized that this grave said 'Joseph Smith' which is a name that is meaningful to her because she knows that Joseph Smith was a very important prophet. So she wanted to place her flowers there.
And while Lauryn is starting this tradition younger than her sisters, I hope as we go back each year she too will feel the reverence and the pride of being a citizen of this great land. We are so very thankful to those who make our freedoms possible.
I saw this print when I was in Boise last October, visiting my Nana after her stroke. I bought it to put in the girls' room, because at the time they were feeling nervous about the dark. I wanted them to look at it and know, no matter where or what the circumstances, they were safe and didn't need to be afraid. I also loved what it represented at that time with my Nana's situation. Her stroke was a humbling thing to see. She had become so frail and so childlike. She lost much of her speech and was only able to tell us "Light, light... I wanna go." It was hard seeing her frustration as she realized that it wasn't her time. That she would be with us for awhile more. She realized she couldn't speak well. You could sense she knew life would not be the same. While it was hard to see, I also knew that my Nana is a woman of great faith. I knew that she could call on her Savior in her time of fear and uncertainty. The same way my little girls could in a dark bedroom and feel the security of His loving embrace. I am grateful for the knowledge that just like my Nana and my daughters, whatever fears or uncertainties come our way in life, we too can find comfort, security and love. In that embrace we will find the confidence we need to press on and fulfill His plan designed just for us.
