Memorials

Hospice had its annual Memorial Service yesterday at the Memorial Garden at Living Memorial Park.

Oh, there are so many to remember. The Living Memorial Park was created after World War II and dedicated to those who died in that war. The Hospice Memorial Garden is dedicated to those who have died during Hospice's 30-year history, including, this year, its co-founder, Pam Mayer.

The Memorial Service is dedicated to those who have died this past year in particular and any others whose names you would like to add to the list. Lerna played the dulcimer as people planted flowers in the garden and marked them with miniature "tombstones"--flat rocks as big as your palm with the name written in permanent marker.

Of course, nothing is permanent. Life is IMpermanent, changing from moment to moment, if we could but notice it.

"We remember them"--the deceased. Then we forget them--for minutes, hours, or days. Then we remember them again and re-feel our grief, our sadness at the ceasing of the deceased.

Yet everything ceases. The Memorial Service, the day, the flowers, eventually the plants, and one of these years, us.