…has always seemed odd to me after learning the history of it. But then, it’s really just another expression of happy ANYWAY! Choosing to see the good in things. Appreciating, honoring and remembering all the lives given for what we have today.

So as you eat your watermelon, hang out with friends and family, celebrating our Red, White, and Blue, take a moment and pause to also celebrate the history of today. Take a moment to reflect on the ANYWAY part and then get back to all the happy there is to enjoy with those you love today!

An exerpt from the National Cemetery Administration at cem.ve.gov

Originally called Decoration Day, it was formalized by a “Memorial Day Order” issued by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868.
The modern proclamation calls on Americans “to observe Memorial Day by praying, according to their individual religious faith, for permanent peace.”

In the waning years of the Civil War (1861–1865) and immediately afterward, communities in the North and South, Black and White, decorated soldiers’ graves with floral honors on springtime “decoration days.” The practice of strewing flowers on graves has been documented from Classical Roman times to western Europe in the nineteenth century.
On May 5, 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a politically powerful organization of Union veterans led by Major General John A. Logan — issued General Orders No. 11 or the “Memorial Day Act.” This issuance formally established “Memorial Day” as a Decoration Day on which the nation would remember its war dead and decorate their graves with flowers.
In subsequent decades competition flourished to claim when and where the first such gathering occurred — in one way or another. Recent scholarship, however, points to the ladies of Columbus, GA, who in April 1866 lobbied for a clearly defined Memorial Day on which to place flowers on the graves of Civil War dead.

Happy Monday, Ya’ll!