MEMORIAL DAY 2010

My dad and brother are buried in Sandy City cemetery - about 50 minutes from where I live. I didn't actually get there on Memorial Day, because I knew I'd be going up that way later in the week. This cemetery doesn't have an actual injunction against plastic flowers, but 95 % of the flowers in these pictures are real. It looked almost gaudy, because there were so many flowers. Apparently this year, they didn't put flags on the veteran's graves, either.(looking east from Dad's grave)

(looking north from Dad's grave)

This is Dad and Jeff's grave marker. I brought the flamingo in the top center. I think this is the first time in 8+ years I haven't cried at the cemetery.

That made me feel like crying.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE YOUNG MEN GONE? GONE TO SOLDIERS, EVERY ONE.

We have added a name to the Memorial Hall wall of heroes. Another young man, CPT Corey Jenkins, USA, was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 25, 2009. He was serving as a Physician's Assistant. He was returning from a humanitarian mission to give cholera vaccinations to a local village. On their return, he and 7 others were killed by an IED. Today, we memorialized him at BYU.

This is the third name we have added to the wall since I began working here in April 2001. I hope it's the last. It's probably not.

I look at all the other names, dating from WWI, and think of the collective grief that each name represents. One long side of the Hall is all windows, facing east, framing Y Mountain. It seems fitting to be able to see the majesty and permanence of the mountains from this room.

The mountains give me a necessary reminder of my place in the scheme of things.