It's not just another holiday

It's Memorial Day weekend. That 3-day fun time known as the unofficial start of summer and home to all those "Huge Blowout Sales" at most retailers most notably furniture stores and car dealerships. Depending on the day of the week my birthday falls I also get to celebrate one more year of life. Of course every holiday has a reason for it's existence whether it is religious such as Easter or Christmas, political such as Election Day and Presidents Day, or Military in nature such as Veteran's Day or Memorial Day. For those who don't know, Memorial Day was first called Decoration Day due to the practice of placing or leaving decorations on the graves of Civil War solders. Over time the name was changed to Memorial Day to honor all fallen solders in whatever war or conflict they served and the date was moved from May 30 to the last Monday in May. The moving the date part was due to Congress wanting a 3-day weekend.
I will confess that I do love the 3-day weekend, the food, the fun activities that are planned and yes, even the sales. Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the "spirit" of the holiday but not the meaning of it. I will end this blog with a Memorial Day thank you. It's because of these people, many who I have never met or will never meet that I enjoy the freedom to write my blog.

Thank you to those grandparents who put their lives on hold to go fight a world war so terrible that it threatened all of humanity. Thank you to those who gave their lives in the hopes Korea would be communist free. Thank you to our parents and aunts and uncles who decided to honor their draft number and duty to country to fight an unpopular war instead of joining the protests or fleeing to Canada. Thank you to my fellow classmates both high school and college. You went over to fight a desert war and came back heroes. And finally, thank you to all of those who heard the call to duty after September 11. You were the future of our country and you gave your life to keep us safe.