Do you decorate loved ones graves this weekend?

[fredjr82]

My paternal grandparents were very adamant about it and drove as far as 60 mins to ensure graves were clean and new flowers put out. My parents have taken that over after they passed and now do the same. I don't ever remember my maternal grandparents (still alive) doing the same?

I've ridden along but it's not something I do on a consistent basis. Not sure I'll be as adamant as my grandparents and parents.

Do you decorate graves on this holiday weekend?

 

[THE_DEVIL]

Yes

 

[Urohawk]

No, but my aunt or mom decorates their parents graves. I do not plan on decorating my parents grave. They'd be dead and there is just a corpse in there. I think they would want me go on living life and not waste time traveling to come back to their grave site.

1. It's memorial day weekend. This is a holiday to honor those who lost their lives during the war. I think focus on any other grave is cheapening that aspect.

2. If you want to put a flag on a veterans grave in honor of them, then you're a good person.

 

[Hendy hawk]

Yes

 

[franklinman]

yes, wife, grand parents, parents and my younger sisters grave. Just proudly taking over from dads tradition.

 

[Bonnell20]

My grandma had me take her every year after my grandpa died up until she got put in the nursing home. I'll always remember those trips!

 

[Funky Bunch]

No, I just make sure the grill is nice and clean

 

[jasonrann]

Up until last year, yes. My sister (no pic) has taken over in my absence. I usually go back to NW Iowa for Memorial Day weekend, but haven't the past two years because of work. My dad and I would always get up early Sunday morning to go decorate the graves of about 25 family members and close friends. I really miss those times now that he is gone.

 

[InsaneHawkJJP]

No. What’s the point? It’s not like the deceased notice.

 

[SoFla-Hawkeye]

Funerals and cemeteries are not for the dead, they are for the living. Decorating graves with my paternal grandparents was how I learned the history of my family. I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity that now living in SoFla no longer affords me.

 

[jasonrann]

Funerals and cemeteries are not for the dead, they are for the living. Decorating graves with my paternal grandparents was how I learned the history of my family. I am forever grateful to have had the opportunity that now living in SoFla no longer affords me.

My great, great grandfather on my dad's side came to NW Iowa from Northern Germany in the late 1800's. He is buried in the same cemetery with my great grandpa and grandpa. Those are usually the first graves we decorate. We typically go between 6-7:00 am. It is a very peaceful time to go. I feel it important to remember those that are gone to keep their memory alive. Our daughter started coming with me when she was five.

 

[gohawks50]

Yes, I took over after my parents died.

 

[CarolinaHawkeye]

My mother did. And after she passes, my sister did. So I doubt anyone left flowers this memorial day. My wife and I usually leave flowers whenever we happen to be close but don't really make a memorial day effort.

 

[hawkbirch]

I like them to have flowers but it doesn’t necessarily have to be done this weekend. We visit the cemetary in Oskaloosa on the way to Ottumwa for Thanksgiving and put out flowers and take pictures for my grandma who couldn’t get there any more. Lots of great stories from that simple trip.

 

[QChawks]

every year

 

[DFSNOLE]

We go up every year around Mother's Day. We take care of two plots in neighboring towns with graves dating back to the 1800s.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

I might get some shit for this, but no, I do not decorate or put flowers on my relatives graves. I get super depressed and I do not like going to the cemetery where they are buried. Too much of a reminder that they are no longer with us.

My no pic wife will occasionally put flowers on my Mom’s grave. My sister used to, but she passed away in December. She was cremated and does not have a plot at our home town cemetery. But we have talked about burying her ashes next to my Mom. My Dad (84) has requested that, so eventually I will need to make it happen. Again, it’s all super depressing, so I’m putting it off.

 

[JWolf74]

Nah. I don't live close, and it's not like they'll notice. 3 of 4 grandparents died before I was 8, so I have almost no memories of them anyway.

 

[fredjr82]

1. It's memorial day weekend. This is a holiday to honor those who lost their lives during the war. I think focus on any other grave is cheapening that aspect.

Memorials Day may have started as a military focused holiday, but I think it's shifted to honoring ALL of those that have passed.

I used to work at a cemetery in Waterloo around 2004. It was a huge holiday. I remember going back the following year to help them. We'd golf cart people out to their loved ones and then bring them back

 

[jamesvanderwulf]

We did this year because dad just died in March. Outlived mom by 11 years which is the exact opposite of what I would have bet on. Then we walk through the cemetery looking at the oldest stones, mid 1800's and note how many children died before kindergarten, mostly in year one, many in the same family...

 

[SeaPA]

No. I'm not much of a "gravesite" person. Other than during a graveside service, I don't think I have ever gone to a gravesite (I have stopped by those of some family & close friends if I'm at the cemetery for a service, but those are the only times I can remember going to a cemetery other than Arlington National to see the ceremony there).