Tag: memory

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Remember

I wrote the following paragraphs about Memorial Day in a small town last year. Have a safe and fun Memorial Day!

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There is a peony bush stranded under the magnolia tree on the east side of our house. It never grows very much, so I would like to transplant it to a better place. I love peonies. They remind me of growing up in a small, rural town in the 70’s. The buds are so nice and plump, and I remember little ants crawling all over them. The peonies would always be in bloom on Memorial Day, and my sister and I would go to the neighbor’s yard to cut the full, red blooms, wrap wet paper towels around the stems, and surround the paper towel with a plastic baggie. Then, my family would get in the car and drive out to the cemetery in the country. It was a beautiful cemetery, green and surrounded by trees. We would put the flowers and maybe a small flag on the graves of soldiers. People gathered around for a Memorial Day service. Veterans wore their uniforms. I can still hear the gun salute echoing among the gravestones, as we remembered those who gave their lives for our country.

I wonder if there will be a gathering at the cemetery outside of town on Monday. My family moved to the suburbs in the early 80’s, so I doubt my little brother and sister remember how we used to commemorate Memorial Day. Even with high gas prices, we will be visiting my parents this weekend. It will be a good time to ask my parents about this holiday when I was growing up, and add to the details of my childhood memory. My children are too young to understand what Memorial Day means, but maybe on Monday we’ll find a peony bush and a cemetery anyway.

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They’ll Never Let Me Live It Down

Never live something down – If you say that you will never live down something bad or embarrassing that you have done, you mean people will not forget it. Three million people saw the singer fall off the edge of the stage. He’ll never live it down. (from thefreedictionary.com)

We all have stories that we hear over and over again. Most of the time, it is the embarrassing stories that are told and retold. Especially when you bring that someone special home to meet the family. Ed found the following story extremely humorous, and frequently retells it.

I couldn’t have been more than two years old when my mom found me outside with wings around my mouth. She was horrified that I had been catching and eating box elder bugs. Maybe my little toddler body was craving protein.

For years, my mom always told me to be very, very, VERY careful when I was carrying something. When I was a kid, we kept the jars of jams and pickles my mom made in the basement. When I was bringing up a jar of pickles one day, I dropped it at the bottom of the stairs. Broken glass and pickle juice was everywhere. “Remember the pickle jar!” Mom would caution when I was carrying anything breakable.

I cannot say the word Yosemite without thinking very carefully about its pronunciation before I say it. Ed loves to tease me about the one time I said it wrong. My cousins will never let me forget about the Smush. (Or Shmoo, as most people call that cute little cartoon character from the 70’s.)

Fortunately, MY REALLY BIG MISTAKES seem to have been forgotten, or at least, no one mentions them because they know I would feel awful all over again about MY REALLY BIG MISTAKES.

I’m not going to remind anyone about MY REALLY BIG MISTAKES. It would be too tempting for someone (*ahem* ED) to revive these stories at the next family gathering!