Memorial Day Celebrations

I know you may be shocked and awed when I admit this, but until the last few years I did not realize that Memorial Day was for visiting the graves of loved ones. I guess it is because my family doesn't live anywhere near where we have family buried. The last few years I have lived about 1/2 mile from the Provo cemetery. I have been amazed at how filled it is on Memorial day weekend. It is a large and very pretty place and it looks AMAZING covered in flowers.

Tonight my roomie and I decided to take our walk time and go down to the cemetery and look around. It was really neat. We found President Hinckleys parents and a lot of really cool pioneer graves. We both were touched when we found a family plot that had 7 small headstones. As we read them we realized that this sweet mother had 7 stillborn babies in 10 years. As I sat and pondered what this woman must have gone through I noticed small little plastic baskets with a few flowers in them at each headstone. All the babies were born in the late fifties and early sixties. I was touched that this mother was still coming to place flowers on her childrens' graves. Then I turned to look at the parents and realized that the mother had passed and that it was this cute little old dad who was still coming to tend to his families graves. My roommate and I were brought to tears as we stood there. I thought about the love  and dedication of this sweet husband and father. It filled my heart with gratitude for families and for the knowledge of the gospel in my life.