A Bouquet of Memories & Memorial

My dad was a passionate gardener. Before his health rapidly declined, he was always disappearing to tinker there when we visited. My mom finally came up with the perfect solution and began hosting her tea parties in their garden. There, he could sit longer and even use his binoculars to watch the birds as the rest of us chatted. 

So when I thought about the perfect flowers to take to his gravesite for Memorial Day, I knew it had to be a tribute to him from my own garden. 

A peony, of course, because my dad was well known for his MOST beautiful peony tree. It stopped cars for photograph opportunities. 

And also lilacs, because I would sometimes accompany my parents on their weekly Sunday dates, drives through the country, no destination, only adventures. 

On one of those adventures, in Northern Maine, we came across an abandoned old house surrounded by lilac trees. We hiked through them oohing and awwing, and picked huge bouquets together. 

On the drive home, our car was filled with the heavy perfume of those lilacs, which gave us all, especially my mom, headaches. It became our inside joke for years after. 

There was a bleeding heart in the bouquet, and also chives, and snowdrops, which to me are symbolic of resurrection. 

My dad was a veteran of the Vietnam War, and is buried in a beautiful military cemetery in Medical Lake, Washington.

I miss him so much. He was our anchor, and it is sad to go through life unable to go to him for counsel. I am thankful he was here on this earth, and that I am his daughter.

As we stood in the cemetery yesterday, we were surrounded by other veterans who had passed before, and after, my dad did. 

Someday, we will buried there, as my husband is a veteran, and we have one son who will also be there (hopefully, many many years down the road) as well as my two brothers and a brother-in-law.  

(We joke that military cemeteries are actually our family cemeteries, which is kind of true.)

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. And thanks to all who have served and sacrificed.