A Creative Memorial Day Tribute

The month of May brings us one of the most sobering holidays of the year--Memorial Day. This holiday is a time for remembering family and friends who are no longer with us. It is typically remembered through gravesite visits and flowers, and cemeteries across the country are beautifully adorned by thousands of visitors with flowers, balloons, flags and sometimes more personal offerings. It can be a time for fond remembrances of days shared with family and friends, but for some it stands as a grim reminder of the sadness associated with losing a loved one before their time. Memorial day weekend can be a particularly difficult time for the elderly, who sometimes feel lonely and isolated while remembering contemporaries that did not live as long. If you have elderly friends and relatives, please spend a little time with them over this long weekend. Trust me, they will be overjoyed to see you. If they can no longer drive, offer to take them to the cemeteries to remember their friends and relatives--it is important to them.

Unlike other Memorial Day weekends, I am seeking another means for remembering those who have departed this year. I will honor my friends and relatives at their graves as usual, but something inside me cries out for a new way to remember them. As an artist, I feel compelled to express myself with images as well as words, and this is what I have chosen to do today.

On this Memorial Day weekend, I am so reminded of the good times I shared with my friends, and I feel compelled to implore each of you to step outside your normal routines and find one new way to remember one specific person you have lost to death. I would not suggest you fail to decorate graves with flowers or balloons, but look for a unique way to remember those that have passed away as well; play a song, cook a meal, watch a movie–anything that reminds you specifically of the one you are remembering through this gesture. That is what I am doing with this article and the accompanying drawing, and I feel young and alive. A normally sad holiday is exploding with energy and positive feelings. In remembering my friends in this manner, I am rejuvenated. I ask you to share this moment with me, and proudly celebrate the life of someone you have lost.

Thank you. Enjoy your day.