On This Day

May 26, 2025

On this date, American flags hung from utility poles on a country road. The smell of barbecue filled the air as two veterans' groups sold plates of chicken and pulled pork. The Emblem Club sold desserts, and tables and chairs were set out hours early for a Memorial Day concert.

There were stories about going to college because the military paid for it, and grandparents who had come over from Norway. They were given land in North Dakota and called "soddies" because they lived in sod houses—there were no trees or stone on the plains.

Books about Point Clear and the sequel to “The Firm” were read by a couple picnicking on a bluff. They retired here 25 years ago but are driving back to see their old home and family in Minnesota this summer–maybe for the last time. “We are getting too old for the drive.”

A girl played Taps on trombone for a reporter as bikers rode by, and a man drank a toast to his father and played Taps at sundown at a veteran's cemetery. The thunder rolled in the distance as he played Amazing Grace. He said he lost his wife in October to another man: Jesus. She passed away on his birthday, but he finds comfort in sharing her heavenly birthday.

Pennies, flowers, and a patriotic troll doll were left by veterans' graves. There was a yellow softball beside a tombstone that read, " A piece of our heart has wings." Below the names, wars, dates, and ranks, the stones revealed who they were or what they loved: jazz legend or gardening in heaven. Music, investing, bowling, reading, and bees. Some markers read, "With you always catching fish," "Until we ride again," "God's angel on earth," and "Love you to the moon and back."

All on this day.