To honor this special holiday, Darren and I drove to Phoenix to attend the 93rd Annual Memorial Day Program celebration at the Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery. The speaker told a touching story and shared some inspirational words about courage and strength. There was a special feeling of reverence in that hallowed place.
We attended this event last year which got me thinking about my great-grandfather, whom I never met, that was supposedly buried in Phoenix. So today on our way to Phoenix, I called my grandpa to see if he could remember the name of the cemetery that his father was buried in, thinking we might be able to visit it after the program. He told me it had the words "green" and "lawn" in it. You can imagine my surprise when it happened to be the same cemetery we were planning on visiting that day. And that it was the same cemetery we had visited the year prior! Crazy! So I was pretty excited to see if we could find the grave. After roaming around for about half an hour we decided to go ask the office staff for help. When we received the coordinates it was only about 2 rows away from where we had been looking. It was great to be there in that beautiful place honoring a grandmother and grandfather who are a part of me, even if we have never met. I am grateful to have a holiday such as this to make me stop and think of those who have fought and died for our country and also to those relatives who have gone before. It is humbling to think that there is a part of them in me and a part of me in them and that together we can walk into the future.
Program: Presentation of Colors, National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, Wreath Presentation Ceremony, Taps, Rifle Salute and a Fly Over by the E.A.A. Squadron 20 Formation Flying Team
We attended this event last year which got me thinking about my great-grandfather, whom I never met, that was supposedly buried in Phoenix. So today on our way to Phoenix, I called my grandpa to see if he could remember the name of the cemetery that his father was buried in, thinking we might be able to visit it after the program. He told me it had the words "green" and "lawn" in it. You can imagine my surprise when it happened to be the same cemetery we were planning on visiting that day. And that it was the same cemetery we had visited the year prior! Crazy! So I was pretty excited to see if we could find the grave. After roaming around for about half an hour we decided to go ask the office staff for help. When we received the coordinates it was only about 2 rows away from where we had been looking. It was great to be there in that beautiful place honoring a grandmother and grandfather who are a part of me, even if we have never met. I am grateful to have a holiday such as this to make me stop and think of those who have fought and died for our country and also to those relatives who have gone before. It is humbling to think that there is a part of them in me and a part of me in them and that together we can walk into the future.
Program: Presentation of Colors, National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, Wreath Presentation Ceremony, Taps, Rifle Salute and a Fly Over by the E.A.A. Squadron 20 Formation Flying Team
