I want you to think about writing this down because when Memorial Day arrives next Monday – that’s right just three plus days from now you are going to wish you had listened better or wrote this down. That’s at least always my problem.
There are two parades in Ronan and Polson with the Ronan event starting at 10 a.m. followed by Polson at noon.
I say this only because is there nothing better than a small community parade and no finer annual get-together than Memorial Day.
And true it is another of those three-day weekends that we sometimes get confused.
I considered holding off parlaying this information on Monday but being a sometimes plan-it-a-bit I advance kind of guy and with the majority of people not on their way to work Monday , maybe just maybe you would not have your vehicle radio on and confuse parade times.
Originally termed decoration day and celebrated on the last Monday of May the day was set aside in 1868 for Union soldiers to decorate graves of their war dead and while originally the two sides celebrated on opposite days but by the turn of the Century the observances merged.
While it marks the start of the summer season- yeh right about time huh- this is the day when rationally we head to the cemetery to place a flag not only on the war dead but also our own relatives.
I fondly remember that was a family tradition when I was growing up but geez it’s been years since I visited the cemetery where my parents are both buried and finding their gravestones by this time would be challenging.
I do however, after just a bit of thought, remember the last Spokane parade I attended and even where I stood to watch it. It’s funny as we age the things we specifically remember and others that slip away.
But I fondly remember standing at the corner of Lincoln and Riverside and wondering why these old men and women were hawking poppies, only later realizing that it also is national poppy day (.
I was lucky enough to be a Arlington National Cemetary for a Memorial Day long ago, an image I will never forget.
Please take a moment today.
Just sayin’
