Memorial Day Memories

Memorial Weekend holds a special place for most of us.  At one time or another, we have had a loved one, someone dear to us pass away and leave a void in our lives.  today we celebrate their lives by visiting their graves.  BBQ's have become a tradition which I think is great!

Today I want to celebrate the lives of 

my older brother and my parents!

These 2 telegrams dated 1955 will explain about my 

brother Floyd Langston Gividen.  

The telegrams were sent from my Dad to my Aunt.

 Date: Sept 25, 1955

Second telegram dated: October 22, 1955

Less than a month later.

Floyd was born with a heart defect which can be fixed now.  

But back in the '50s 

all my parents could do was watch him slowly die.  My mother told me that whenever she thought of Floyd, she pictured him as a man...  Except when she would visit his grave, 

then he was that tiny little helpless baby once again.

Today I also want to celebrate my parents.

This is a repost from last September...

An Amazing Love Story

The following true love story I am sharing with you is tender to my heart and one that I deeply cherish. I hope you will read as such.

Today (September 29, 2010) marks the 7^th year anniversary  since both my parents passed away.  My Dad had been fighting cancer for several months.  Early in the morning on September 29, 2003, he was not doing well, Mom called the ambulance and just after arriving at the hospital, he had a massive heart attack and passed away.  When the nurse told my Mother that her husband of 55 years had just died, she said in a peaceful and calm way, “I’m going to miss that man.”  A few minutes later, she also had a massive heart attack and passed away.  I was already on my way to the hospital, so when I got there the news that came was unimaginable.  Two of the most important people in my life were no longer there…they had always been there, but now they were gone.

My family has always been close.  We visited my parents several times a week and my children usually spent Friday’s at their home helping them with chores and earning money.  They would spend the night and then Saturday morning, Dad and Mom would take my kids yard sale-ing and they would spend all the money they had earned! It was a wonderful relationship.

Two weeks after my parent’s funeral, the home they lived in, the same one that I had spent my entire childhood and teen age years in had been sold to total strangers. Within the next two weeks, everything had been sorted, divided among my siblings and I and the house was empty and no longer a place I could go for love and security.  Within a month’s time, I had so-to-speak become orphaned and homeless.

By now, you might be asking , ‘how can such a tragic event be an amazing love story’… I would like to share with you the rest of the story…

• The day before passing away, my parents had celebrated their 55^th wedding anniversary.  I have the card my Dad had given to my Mom on that occasion… the message he had written in it was so full of a deep and abiding love.  They had spent 55 years in the thick and thin of living life together, raising 6 children, burying  1 son, and so many of the day to day things that we all experience…they determined to love and serve.
• They were both buried on what would have been my Dad’s 79^th birthday.  He came into the world alone, but he left  79 years later with the woman he loved.
• Whenever my Mom would leave for her annual visit to her sister that lived in another state my Dad’s comment was always the same…”There’s no life without the Wife.”  On the other hand, I had heard my Mom say on several occasions, “If Harold dies before I do, I’m just going to slip my hand in his hip pocket and tag along.

In a way, it is very romantic.  Two people so much in love both dying of a broken heart within 10 minutes of each other.  They were amazing parents…not perfect, but ‘they did their best and loved much.’ We all shared in that love so it was tragic to lose them both at the same time.  But, also consider the peace we feel knowing they are together and happy!

Thank you for taking time to share with me this important anniversary day!

Today our family is hoping it will stop raining long enough to have a BBQ and roast marshmallows....What are you doing to celebrate Memorial Weekend?