My kids crack me up with their vocabularies. They talk like little old men sometimes. The other day we were walking through the field when #2 told me the trees were "thriving" and today #1 said that his brother was "wearisome." There were a couple other words that I was trying to remember for this post, but now they have flown from my mind. I really enjoyed my week to get the house back in order, but I am just as much enjoying being with my boys again. --------- This is Memorial Weekend, the start of summer. I was thinking this morning that when I was little it meant the end of school. We started after Labor Day and ended at Memorial Day. Gone are those days for today's public and private schoolers. Of course, they are gone for my kids too as we start in July and end in April--weather has a lot to do with it. Anyway, there is a National Cemetary in the town where I grew up. Each year there is a parade through town out to the cemetary. The first casualty of the Civil War is buried there, or something like that. As school children we would all wear white and march through town with the rest of our school. Our teacher would give us each a little American flag to carry and we all brought flowers from our yards, mine were always snowballs from the snowball bush and irises from Grandma's flowerbed. We wrapped them in wet papertowels and foil to keep them fresh. At the end of the parade route, we would go through the rows of perfectly aligned headstones and try to find one that needed flowers. Each headstone also had a flag. There would be speeches in the cemetary given by school children who won a contest, and by veterans who fought for our freedom. Then we would go to Garden Fresh- the local grocery- and the owner would give everyone who marched through town a drumstick ice cream cone. Children still march today, but gone are the white dresses and sunbonnets, the white sneakers, the yard flowers, and the ice cream. I doubt any one listens to speeches, and many children probably don't know why they celebrate this holiday. I wonder how many young soldiers overseas will celebrate it tomorrow for the first time. And how many will never get to celebrate. Thank you to all who have given us this holiday. Thank you for the reason, not just the relaxation. God bless America.