Our whole family would go to the cemetery with buckets full of flowers that we picked in our garden. Sometimes only the lilacs would be blooming and other years the peonies, irises, honeysuckle or mock orange would fill the car with their sweet perfume.
We would bring our shovel, broom, a little soap, and some rags along with the jars to hold the flowers. My father would lift the sunken tombstones up and level them with a little sand always making sure each stone was free of overgrown grass and weeds. My mother would sweep the gravestones and arrange the flowers in the jars.
Then it was our turn to wash the stones clean and help place the jars of flowers on each grave. Sometimes we would bring a picnic lunch and eat under the large shade tree near the water pump. It was a family day that include our loved ones that were gone but not forgotten.
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