Our family celebrated Memorial Day 2008 in our own way, by working our fingers off building a deck, by watching the kids run and play, by not getting involved in crowds, by getting sunburned, and by flying our flags at half-mast until noon and then raising them sky-high:

Now, before anyone starts hollering at me because we are not flying the usual flags that American’s fly, please remember that I’m married to a very passionate Texican.  The first flag (on top) is the original Confederate States of America flag, which first appeared in March 1861.  Please don’t confuse this first flag with the flag that many think of as the confederate flag that folks interpret as not nice.  That other flag has become a symbol of something that most of Texas that I know, want nothing to do with.

The second flag (lower) was known as the “Burnet Flag” and was used to represent Texas from 1836 – 1839 as the national Flag of the Republic of Texas.

Ah yes, my Texican is extremely loyal to his roots – and to his country.

We saw many old friends on our Missouri adventures this past week, friends that I’ll have for life, even if we don’t stay in touch so much.

The girl on the left is my niece, brother Jeff’s daughter, Kayla — named after me (my middle name, anyways)…and the girl on the right is Cody’s (my nephew) sister Sadie.  I guess they decided, when my brother Tom divorced Cody’s mom, that I didn’t want to be a part of Sadie’s life anymore – because I rarely heard about her.  But, I’m her Aunt Tammy in my mind, and I always will be.  She’s a lovely girl and I hope to keep in touch with her, in the future, to continue a relationship:

This is my oldest daughter and Aunt Jan.  Not really my aunt, but way closer to me than most of my true aunts.  Aunt Jan was my beauty school teacher when I was 19.  Lovely, lovely lady, and so special to me!

This is Marilyn and myself.  Marilyn was getting her Master’s degree when I was getting my BS at Mizzou (way back when) … Marilyn used to come to the bar where I worked and we hit it off, she then worked for me as a waitress at the bar for a bit.  When she left and moved to take a real job, she had a baby – and I got to hold her little one when she was a mere month old.  We’ve sporadically stayed in touch over the years, and she came out to Utah to visit us once.  Most importantly, she’s one of the few of my friends who my husband really enjoys talking to – both of them are ag folks!

There were others, of course, that I visited with – but, didn’t get photos of.  But, it was very nice to re-connect with all of them.  And to remind myself that the relationships we build in this life are all we have – it’s our way of giving and receiving love — far more important than so many other ‘things.’