May We Remember

by ST, May 2025

     I remember when I was young my mom told us May Day was a time to bring flowers to loved ones and the low and lonely.  She encouraged us to continue that tradition.  I'm sorry that nowdays that seems to be largely forgotten.  I still celebrate flowers on May Day:  my favorite ones, edible ones, the part they all play in making our planet liveable, beautiful.  I celebrate them for the whole month of May (and every day!).  I remember fondly the nearly forgotten May Day dance around the May Pole.  Now I also celebrate Mother Goose Day on May 1st. Remember the delight she brings to childhood, and even to adulthood.
     Cinco de Mayo is a chance to celebrate--again with flowers, and food as well, dance, music, costumes--a culture that has enriched our nation (meaning US the U.S.). May we remember that when mean people seek to set us against one another.
     In May we remember mothers, may we never forget them any day, but one day a year we take extra care to celebrate them, their role, their sacarifices, their quiet courage and heroism, their influence on the present and our destiny.  Often with flowers, and music (and why not dancing for joy?!).  We celebrate our own mothers, and their mothers, all those who nuture others.  We celebrate our chance to be mothers, and to mother/nurture others.  
     At the end of May we celebrate Memorial Day, memorialize our military heroes who have fought and died for us.  We bring flowers and flags to their graves.  We don't celebrate their deaths, but their courage and willingness to sacrifice for our nation and our sakes, and to pass on our heritage to the future.  We celebrate their lives, honor their sense of honor, praise their patriotism.  And the wise remember the sacrifice of their families, friends, loved ones.  Their loss is a loss to our nation, and yet they are not lost to us.  They live on in our hearts, our history, our memories.