My father died in February of 2000; this was the 19th Memorial Day that flowers were placed on his grave. Mother’s last trip with me to Fountain County Fraternal Cemetery was in 2008; she couldn’t go in 2009 – she was dying, but she kept it from us. So I went alone, not knowing that in 2010 I would be making trips to both the cemetery in Fountain County and one in Sturgis, Michigan.

Recently – that means the last two years – I couldn’t get to my dad’s grave so my cousins put flowers there for me. They said they “talked to Uncle Bob and told them how much I loved him.” And I was so grateful to them.

This year was looking iffy, but I decided I was going, and my grandson accompanied me. It was a long trip and I didn’t get back until way after 10 pm, but back there in central Indian was a big pot of geraniums, hand-delivered to the man who always held my hand.

That made it a good day . . . and maybe tomorrow I’ll write about the little engine glitch that resulted in us sitting for two hours in a dealership service waiting room in Lafayette – but they had free muffins and the technicians got the car in right away, replaced a part and had the geraniums back on our way. And, actually, maybe that  helped to make it a better day. Those geraniums made it to a soldier who would have been 100 years old this November.