\u201cHey, do you want to go the Memorial Day Parade tomorrow?\u00a0 It starts at 9:30 a.m.\u00a0 We could get our yard work done instead.\u00a0\u00a0 The forecast is for temperatures in the 90\u2019s starting late morning, and we could start it while the weather is still cool,\u201d said my husband, Mark, in a hopeful voice as he sat across from me in his living room lounge chair.<\/p>\n
My head jerked up from my book.\u00a0 \u201cOf course, I want to go,\u201d I said, an incredulous look on my face.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to go!\u00a0 It\u2019s not even a discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark recovered from his transgression with a smile and a shake of his head at the reminder, once again, how important the parade was to me.<\/p>\n
The next morning found us along the parade route in our northwest suburb of Chicago.\u00a0 We clapped as the vets marched past, many walking, the older ones\u2019 riding in cars.\u00a0 We waved at the sea of scout troops and village organizations, along with the politicians always looking for voters.\u00a0 We tapped our feet at the lively music of high school and local community bands.\u00a0 We both agreed it was a grand parade.<\/p>\n
As I stood on the sidewalk and watched the waves of participants, the memories of the enormous Memorial Day parades of my youth in the mid-1950\u2019s flowed back to me.\u00a0 My dad and uncles had, thankfully, returned home after being overseas as part of the US Military in WWII.\u00a0 Patriotism was at a high.\u00a0 We wanted to honor the veterans who in the prime of their life gave up marriage, family, schooling, and careers to go off and as my dad put it, \u201cdo our duty.\u201d\u00a0 There was no question of doing anything else on Memorial Day.\u00a0 We had to do our duty to thank the vets.<\/p>\n
Through the years, I have learned change is always in the air and so it is with Memorial Day.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The holiday has so many meanings to so many people now.\u00a0 \u00a0We still, rightfully, honor the vets, but it is also a celebration of the start of summer, a chance to foster the community spirit and feeling of good-will and most importantly, the opportunity for everyone to get together, see their friends and neighbors and enjoy a community event.\u00a0\u00a0 What a wonderful occasion.<\/p>\n
My dad and uncles have long since passed away, but I know they would have liked the spirit of today\u2019s parade as much as ever.<\/p>\n
Originally posted on http:\/\/bookofdreams.us \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cHey, do you want to go the Memorial Day Parade tomorrow?\u00a0 It starts at 9:30 a.m.\u00a0 We could get our yard work done instead.\u00a0\u00a0 The forecast is for temperatures in the 90\u2019s starting late morning, and we could start it while the weather is still cool,\u201d said my husband, Mark, in a hopeful voice as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,44],"tags":[138,139],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/memorial-day-3432665_1920.jpg?fit=1920%2C1318&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kaFb-cE","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookofdreams.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}