Memorial Day

Carol and I visited my father's grave yesterday morning at the Calumet Park Cemetery while the boys were sound asleep. Flags waved from every veteran's graveside, including my dad's. We placed fresh flowers on the grave, wiped away the dead grass on the gravemarker, and I pulled a few more weeds out from around the site. I promised Carol I'd come back before I leave Indiana to tidy up around the grave. Grass has overgrown around the marker.

There were many people visiting their deceased loved ones' graves. I asked Carol if it gets any easier without Dad now that he's been gone for seven years.

"I still miss him" she whispered with a slight quiver to her voice, and I knew then that I had asked a sensitive question. I, too, sometimes wish he were still next to me telling me one of his silly jokes. I had to hold back my own tears; it doesn't take me long to miss his kindred spirit. For many years he was my only rock in my otherwise restless spirit.

"Even Eric says that he was taken from us too soon," I added.

I helped her clean the graves of her mother, brother Butch (who died young in a car crash in the 1970s) and her maternal grandparents Overman.

There are many eastern European and Balkan Americans buried at Calumet Park. Names such as Skarba, Savodny, Tomasich, Tumabalsky adorned tombstones in this cemetery, proof that 100 years ago many of the immigrants to Lake County, IN were from the Balkans. The majority of these east Europeans came here in the 1930s and 1940s. My best friend when I was in elementary school in Highland, IN, was a Croatian-American named Kathleen Kukich. I wonder where she is now?

***

Our holiday celebration was yesterday, when most of Carol's family came by to eat, celebrate and play "Cornhole," a Hoosier version of beanbag. The boys were busy playing the game while I stayed inside with "the girls" when Erin came by with Ethan.

When everyone left for the day the boys remained wide awake in the guest room playing another few games of Xbox on-line. Matt asked me how long Sadie has been so attached to me, following me around the house. I couldn't remember exactly; Sadie has always been attached to Kevin and me.

I know I fell in love with that dog while watching her in the rear-view mirror of my Ford Escape, driving up Ash Canyon to "run the dogs" and she stayed on my tail racing 13mph. Ears against her thin head, all I saw of her were tan fur and a pink tongue lashing around her dewy lips. She maintained that speed for two miles.

Today, though, it was a quiet beginning as Carol had to leave early to drive Ulli back to OSU. All the boys were up before 8am as we ate breakfast at a new diner in town, "Red Apple" that provided good service and decent prices to our final farewell.

I took off with Eric back to Chesterton where I dropped him off at his job. Clouds were looking menacing now, with a threat of rain. I briefly stopped in downtown Valparaiso, a former Potowatomi site, to walk around the courthouse. It was feeling chilly now, with dark clouds moving in from the South, a storm that had travelled from the Gulf of Mexico. This rain may be with us for two more days.

I had no desire to get caught in the woods in the rain, and opted for a short walk with Sadie at Deep River County Park, a lovely little paradise along a creek canopied by elm, hickory and buckeye.

A Saw mill and grist mill are on this property, popular with summer wedding planners. The hiking trails begin behind the historic Wood's Grist Mill, originally built in 1838 by John Wood as a wood frame structure. It was later rebuilt of brick in 1876 by Nathan Wood, John's son, as a custom flouring mill that stands today to grind corn. Here is were most of the visitors with young children come to relax and have a family picnic. More adventurous ones like me, with horse or dog, continue on along the sandy trails down the creek.

The flora in this park is typical of Northwest Indiana's bog and dunes terrain. I've come here before for solitude, hiking the four-mile trail system for a decent hike along the Deep River. Today parts of the trails were flooded or extremely muddy.

Sadie enjoyed the sandy trail and an occassional dip in the water. The entire path was enshrouded in shades of green and a sweet-pungent aroma permeated throughout the walk. It drizzled on our way back to the van and it rain hard once I got back to US Highway 30.

Now I am alone in her house, with just the noise of a nearby TV to keep me company. Both dogs are avoiding each other by sleeping in separate rooms. I have some studies to get caught up with. I will not partake in any special activities today; I've lived Memorial Day for too long I don't ever need to have another one for the rest of my life. I am going to enjoy some solitude for a day, perhaps even start planning my return trip, later on tonight.