Decoration Day

Yesterday was my SO's family reunion of sorts. They call it Decoration Day because they all gather at the rural cemetery where most of their ancestors are buried. The first day they clean the graves. It's a scraped earth cemetery so there's no grass. They heap the loose dirt up on each grave, which makes a nice pile of soft dirt to stick bouquets of silk flowers into -- and that was done mostly on Saturday as well. A few flowers were laid yesterday, but by the time we arrived at 11:00, that had all been done. My SO took me around and showed me where his father and brother are buried, alongside his grandparents and some of their other children. A couple of them died as infants. Always sad to see. There were 11 children in that family, counting the two that died, and only one is still living. He's 91 and was in attendance yesterday, as the elder statesman. A talkative, spry man in a cowboy hat, khaki shirt and pants, a ready smile and big appetite. I liked him a lot.

I had been to this cemetery once before and seen these graves, but it was shortly after the SO and I started seeing each other on a regular basis, but before we decided we were in love, and so I didn't remember much about any of it. Odd how the mind decides to pay attention when it matters, and to disregard when it might not. I didn't know if we were going anywhere back then, nearly three years ago now. Anyway, I'm beginning to understand all the relationships now, and much better since I met a few more of them yesterday. I already knew his living brother and his family. We've been with them several times at his mom's, down on the Coast, and twice have had them here. And of course, I'm crazy about his mom, and I think she likes me, too.

The food was a lot better than the usual family reunion fare. I took a broccoli salad that was one of my best attempts, if I do say so, and a corn pudding that's always a hit. I don't think I've ever taken that dish to a gathering and had any leftover when the party was over. My lemon chess pie, however, was soupy and undercooked, even though it stayed in the oven a full hour. But, even needing a spoon rather than a pie server to dish it up, there was still only a single piece left at the end of the lunch hour. There were lots of hungry people there, and truth is, not too many deserts, which I figure is the reason most of the chess pie got eaten.

We stopped on the way home at SO's mom's house and sort of revisited the day together. She clearly had a great time, and was one of the oldest there -- she's soon to be 87. I took some of her leftover chicken casserole with us when we left, promised her copies of the pictures I took with my Nikon. We made another stop at our friend's house since we were so close. We're all planning an RV trip in July to the mountains of New Mexico, and we talked that over a little while. SO seems to think they'll fink out in the end, but I'm hoping they really will join us. I like these people and think we'll have a great week together if they do go.

Then it was over to see Dad for a couple of hours. I felt like the old Sunday gone a'callin' when we finally got home to let out the dog and cat. We threaded a soaker hose through the garden. Daddy's veggies are so much farther along than ours are, and the only thing I can figure out is, he's putting more water down than we are, so we have to rectify our situation. I discovered I have an allergy to the pricky leaves of the squash plants. I came inside and took a shower, then slathered my red, bumpy arms with Benedryl.

A nice day. We watched HBO all evening, then turned in pooped and sleepy. SO has become a big fan of "As Time Goes By" on PBS. Comes on here at 10:30 Sunday night. As soon as it was over -- lights out.

Onward ....