Memories on Memorial Day

My mom's side of the family. The Nielsen family graves.

Draper City Cemetery

The Provo City Cemetery is where my sister Debbie's grave is as well as my Grandpa and Grandma Schill.

I have great memories from Memorial Day weekends in the past. It was all about spending time as a family and thinking about those family members who were no longer with us. When I was little my mom would gather flowers from all over the yard and put them in various mason jars to take to the cemeteries. We would pile in the car, some of us holding jars of flowers, or tools to clean the area around the grave to make it look nice. We would head to Provo where my Dad's parents, my G&G Schill are buried. I like the drive through the trees heading to their grave. We would have fun walking around and looking at different headstones, wondering what that person must have been like. Later on we would head to Draper to meet up with my mom's side of of the family to visit the Nielsen graves. We would talk and walk around and dare each other to drink the water from the drinking fountain. For some reason we never trusted the water there and the pipes that ran through the cemetery. haha! We would also head to my uncle Pete's grave, my mom's brother who died of cancer when I was young.

Later on we would head to my aunt & uncle's house for food and playing. When I was really small I remember going to my Grandpa Nielsen's house in Draper before he died and playing on the swinging metal thing, I am not really even sure what to call it, but you had to be careful not to smash your fingers on it. Over the years it has dwindled, as people have moved away and we haven't been able to get together as an extended family. We still get together with my family and head down to Provo to my sister's grave and also to my grandparents.

Even though they don't celebrate Memorial Day here in Australia this weekend, I still wanted to think about all the loved ones whose graves I would be visiting if I were there. I also wanted to remember so many people who have died defending the United States. We are very lucky. I have great memories of the stories we told and the fun things we remembered about my sister and just the fun times we spent as a family. For me, it is a peaceful place where we can go to feel close to the ones we love & to remember them.