As we decorated graves at four different cemeteries Memorial Day weekend, I looked around and some of what I saw was really disappointing.
Pat and I and her mother went to two cemeteries in Shawnee on Saturday afternoon.
Then, on Sunday afternoon, Pat and I went to Oklahoma City and decorated graves at two more.
I realize the Shawnee and Oklahoma City areas have received quite a bit of rainfall, especially in the past couple of weeks.
However, if there is one weekend a year that cemeteries should look their possible best, at least as good as they can, it’s Memorial Day weekend.
In the Shawnee area, it was amazing how different the two cemeteries looked.
One had been mowed and trimmed, despite the recent weather conditions. You could read the names on the headstones. It was easy to see that the grass and any weeds had been cut away.
You could tell if a veteran was buried there, he or she had a flag, and you could even tell during what war or conflict he or she had served. It looked really good.
In the other cemetery, we had to wonder when the last time the grass and weeds had been cut if they had ever been cut within the past several weeks leading up to last weekend. It may have been too wet to cut, but they should have been able to use a weed eater.
The area around the head stone of one of my wife’s great uncles, who had served in three wars, was nothing short of atrocious.
In fact, the grass sprigs covered it up so you couldn’t even tell he was a veteran. Maybe that is the reason there was no American flag next to his grave.
How sad that was to see.
It appeared there had been little planning by those responsible for that cemetery.
As soon as Pat and I arrived at the first cemetery in Oklahoma City, we could tell the people in charge cared and know the importance of Memorial Day Weekend. The whole cemetery may have not been mowed, but it was trimmed and the head stones could easily be read.
After doing one, we went to another and that cemetery, too, looked really good. It had been mowed, trimmed, and the flags were out by the graves of veterans.
My dad and my uncle are two of those who had flags. As Pat and I looked around, we were pleased with what we saw at that cemetery as we were with the other we had just visited.
Pat and I were glad we decorated Saturday and Sunday due to the rainfall that fell on Monday.
Congrats to those responsible for the cemeteries that looked like they should on the most important weekend of the year.