Circles

I love Memorial Day.  I know it is designed to be a day to honor soldiers that died in battle and I do honor and appreciate them.

I also like my family's take on the holiday.  We go to cemeteries.  Plural.  Because our family tree is rooted in the Salt Lake Valley, specifically in Murray/West Jordan/Sandy/Crescent.

I love how connected I feel.  I love seeing the names in stone, the names of a few people I knew but mostly I knew of.  They're where I came from.  They the builders of the nation.

That circle tightens a little as we inevitably meet up with some of my mom's cousins at the different cemeteries.  At the Sandy Cemetery, my mom's cousin was there with some family and they were clearing off the grass and cleaning the headstones neighboring where my great grandparents and great-great grandparents are buried.

He said, "I got tired of looking at them."

Olivia was impressed with what great neighbors they were.

We were all there honoring the same ancestors and that feels nice.

There are my grandma's (who is 92!) descendants who were there.  It's just a small portion of the family but it makes me happy all the same.

In a tighter circle, I see some of my aunts and uncles.  We hug and catch up a little and joke about little things.  I see some cousins.  We hug and catch up, compare notes on our children's ages, find out "where are you living now?"

I love the tighter circle of seeing my siblings and their kids.

Here Marianne and I are chatting with Morgan.   That's Ammon in the background.

Sisters that stand together (in the same pose) stay together.

I needed the long hugs my sisters gave me.  And the ones from my parents.  There's my dad in the picture above.

Here's my mom with some of the older cousins:

Carolina, Desi, my mom, Emma, Braeden, Liberty, Mark, Lili and Hyrum in the front.

I loved the way the cousins enjoyed each other.  These big ones stood around and talked and laughed and younger ones took off on a series of adventures.

Eventually we headed back home.  My tightest circle.  I loved hearing the kids delight in each other's company.  I looked over at Adam and appreciated him.  He happily spends the day visiting the graves of people he's never met.

That's quality.