Memorial Day in my home town

I guess I've never given much thought to how Memorial Day is celebrated outside of my hometown.  I've never missed a parade or given much thought to how other areas of the country celebrate.

For Canandaigua, it's the line-up at 9:30am on the lawn of the American Legion, a parade filled with veterans being pushed in wheelchairs down the street by members of the Elks Club, and kids marching with their baseball team or girl scout troop.  The parade route is lined by everyone you know in town, all turned out to enthusiastically wave to their children and friends.

The parade ends at Wood Lawn cemetery for a ceremony honoring America's war dead, a speech by the mayor (who wears her heels down the 1.5 mile parade route- and always has), and a reading of the Gettysburg Address.

It's Americana and a Normal Rockwell painting all in one.

And I never understood how meaningful it was until I ran into one of my brother's boyscout denmates this year.  Anthony was always the nicest kid- and when I heard he was going into the military I knew it was a perfect fit.  I hardly recognized him when he was standing behind us at the start of the parade this year with kids of his own.

His kids were absolutely adorable- dressed in brown army fatigues with his last name emblazoned on their chests.  "I wanted to show them what Memorial Day is like where I come from," he said.

And what an amazing thing to share.  As much as Canandaigua can feel like a big place, it's still a small town where everyone turns out for the parade, regardless of whether or not they still have children in tee ball or the marching band.  It's a town where everyone stands up when the flag parades by, and where they burst into applause when the veterans from the VA Medical Center are rolled by.

I know that there are lots of small towns like Canandaigua around the country where Memorial Day is still a day to remember those who fought and died for our freedoms.  Places where the parades are supported by the entire community, where the fire trucks roll by to the awe-struck smiles of children, and where everyone feels safe and like they belong.

I'm grateful to be raising my kids in this community.