Cemetery tradition

My mom and I have a tradition every year on or very near April 3rd.  We go to the cemetery and place flowers for our relatives that have passed away.  My Grandot's birthday is April 3rd so we always try to go on that day.  


I really love doing this.  It always makes me feel so good and gives us a little time to reflect on each person.  It probably sounds morbid or sad....but I never leave feeling sad.  I always leave feeling happy.  


We went this year on April 5th.  


We do the same thing every year.  We meet at Hobby Lobby and buy all the flowers.  We love going in April because we can get spring flowers for everyone.  The year I got married we put blue hydrangeas and white roses out because those were my wedding flowers.  I told my mom that next year everyone was getting either pink or blue, depending on the sex of our little one!  


We always start with Grandot (my dad's mom) and her husband, my grandfather, Elza.  I never met him...he passed away before I was born.  I was really close with my Grandot when I was younger.  I always stayed with her and I have so many memories of being at her house.  Number one was that she had a Pit Bull named Chester that was mean as hell to everyone but her.  No one was messing with Grandot while Chester was around....my dad was scared to death of him!  She always had white cheddar popcorn and I think of her every time I see it at the gas station or grocery store.  She would make me chicken and stars soup and let me melt sliced American cheese in it.  I still eat this sometimes.  I loved playing with the Lincoln Logs she had at her house.  I remember always getting into laughing fits with her.  I would laugh at something, then she would laugh at me laughing and then neither one of us could stop...makes me laugh just thinking about it!  The best memory I have of Grandot was of her "shows".  She LOVED Matlock, Perry Mason, Murder She Wrote, and MacGyver.  We watched them every single day.  We also watched game shows together.  Our favorite one was Press Your Luck.  These are the things that I think about when we "visit" her and it makes me happy inside.  


After that we move on to my aunt Cheryl (my dad's brother's wife).  My best memory of her is that she would always let me stay up late and watch Saturday Night Live when I stayed with them.  Needless to say, I always wanted to spend Saturday night at Pat and Cheryl's!  


My uncle Carl is next and he could ALWAYS guess his Christmas present before he opened it.  He would shake it around, sniff it, put his ear to it and then BAM he knew what it was.  This always fascinated me and my brother.  


My great-grandmother Mooney always wanted me to sit in her lap and read to her.  She was a 2nd grade teacher so she would teach me the proper way to say things.  I was very young!


My grandmother's (my mom's mom) husband John is next.  I remember him always reading.  When me and my brother were little we would try to tickle his feet while he was reading and then he would flick us on the head!  Lightly of course.  Looking back I can see how annoying we must have been.....


We then go to another cemetery in town to my mom's grandmother, Becie.  We actually could not go this year because they are doing lots of construction on the road and we couldn't get in!  


This past year my uncle Robyn died in October.  I was very close with him.  He was like a father figure to me when I was growing up.  He taught me how to play basketball, how to throw a softball, drive a car, and how to bet on the horses at the racetrack!  My dad was not always around back then....totally another post for another day...we are very close now.  Robyn was cremated and it just felt weird not getting flowers for him.  So we decided that we would and would put them on a grave that did not have any flowers.  I think he would have liked that.


Of course this year I am a little sad knowing that none of these great people will get to meet my little one.  But I am just thankful for the time I got to spend with them and all of the wonderful memories that I have of each person.  I think one of the reasons I like having this tradition so much is that it gives me time to remember these memories.