Wreath for the Cemetery

We left early Sunday morning to be at the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam shortly after it opened (7 AM) to place a wreath at my parents' grave. We actually had planned on making the trip early Saturday afternoon, but the traffic with people leaving Grandma's house after the Thanksgiving holiday was horrendous. We had no traffic woes early Sunday morning and practically had the highway to ourselves for the hour long drive.

Himself had stopped earlier in the week to pick up a wreath stand, a wreath, and a bow. To me, the wreath looks sad compared to wreaths I've made for the folks in the past, but the military is strict, and Dad wanted to be buried at a Veterans cemetery. The rules are only a fresh, green wreath with a single bow may be placed at the grave and a wreath stand may be used. Wreaths may be displayed from 1. December to 15. January.

The cemetery grounds keepers will remove the wreaths in January. Cut flowers are welcome at any time of the year, and the grounds keepers remove flowers when they have passed. The cemetery is well kept.

I also brought a bouquet of flowers for Ma (her name and dates are on the back of the headstone). Otherwise, she would think the wreath was for Dad. She was funny about things like that. She was the Queen and expected to be treated as such. We always had to greet her first when we visited, even if Dad opened the door for us.

The cemetery was quiet, and we were the only visitors in this section of the cemetery. A few wreaths have already been placed.

Not too far away is an amusement park and last year a new ride opened up. It's a 200 ft. tower drop which can be seen high over the tops of the trees that surround the cemetery. During the warm months, the hush of the cemetery is broken by the joyful screams of park visitors. I don't like visiting the cemetery during the Summer. The raucous shrieks seem more disrespectful to me in this place than a celebration of life. Nothing to be done as I think the amusement park was open long before the cemetery.

The folks wouldn't have liked the noise or the lights from the amusement park. Dad loved town politics and would have been the first in line to fight Town Hall with protests. He would have collected signatures to force the amusemnt park to build a berm as a sound barrier. And that 200 ft. drop ride? That never would have been erected if Dad was in charge. :-D