You look around everywhere. There’s strife and suffering, and so too, there is hope… and people coming together. Such is life right now as many have experienced it… and Serendipidously, such is the origin of Memorial Day.

I have a habit of thinking …I know the definition or origin of a thing, or event, when my remembering isn’t accurate. So, let’s look up what Memorial Day really stands for …and remember together. Call it x-ray vision or whatever… I, for one, want to experience what’s real and true, not just think I remember what is.

There is no history book sitting around for me to investigate Memorial Day, so I turn to the Internet…(Maybe keeping at least one history book around would be a good idea. Yet, in considering what a book – and the written word really is – perhaps we’re all writing history every minute by just merely living as passionately as we can and doing the next right thing.)

Beverly Hernandez, on About.com, writes about Memorial Day:

“It was 1866 and the United States was recovering from the long and bloody Civil War between the North and the South. Surviving soldiers came home, some with missing limbs, and all with stories to tell. Henry Welles, a drugstore owner in Waterloo, New York, heard the stories and had an idea. He suggested that all the shops in town close for one day to honor the soldiers who were killed in the Civil War and were buried in the Waterloo cemetery.

On the morning of May 5, the townspeople placed flowers, wreaths and crosses on the graves of the Northern soldiers in the cemetery. At about the same time, Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan planned another ceremony, this time for the soldiers who survived the war. He led the veterans through town to the cemetery to decorate their comrades’ graves with flags. It was not a happy celebration, but a memorial. The townspeople called it Decoration Day.” (Thank you, Beverly…)

Wow! I totally had missed that…Those who instituted “Memorial Day” were insightful and truly open-minded enough to honor those who had died, as well as those who were and are still alive – on one day – “Decoration Day.”

To all of those who have been or who are on the front lines… and all of the witnesses of those heroic actions… here at 7Bends…and across the globe – in every space and time – our hats are off to all of you!

We’re decorating the Earth with our gratitude.

(P.S. The picture of the flags was taken at Shenandoah Caverns in Mount Jackson, VA.)

Woodstock – It’s almost been 150 years since the Civil War ended, and it’s time to herald that historic occasion.

The Shenandoah County Sesquicentennial Committee has been meeting since November 2008. After discussions about planning the activities of the upcoming Sesquicentennial Commemoration, the group decided that the general theme will be the impact of the Civil War on the people of Shenandoah County.

Through the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission a grant project had been initiated. The Shenandoah County Sesquicentennial Committee’s first initiative will be, “Caring for the Wounded: Shenandoah County’s Civil War Story”. Accordingly, the first grant application was written to the Virginia Sesquicentennial Commission for a Civil War Trails sign to be placed at the site in Mount Jackson where the hospital stood.

This grant has three partners: the Strasburg Guard Camp/Sons of Confederate Veterans; Camp #1951 Captain Jack Adams/Sons of Confederate Veterans; and the Shenandoah County Tourism department The grant was awarded in full in the amount of $1,300, with each partner coming to the table with $550, $550 and $200 respectfully.

Of the 32 grants that were submitted to the state, only four were approved and Shenandoah County was #1. This grant award was publicly announced last week at the first Signature Conference at the University of Richmond to an audience of over 2,100 attendees.

In addition, the Sesquicentennial Committee received word last Friday that its grant application for a companion interpretive brochure (entitled “Caring for the Wounded: Shenandoah County’s Civil War Story”),was also awarded in part by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. With these grant approvals, the Committee looks forward to implementing the Sesquicentennial initiative. Stay tuned for more details at: www.shenandoahtravel.org

For questions about Shenandoah County’s role in planning the Sesquicentennial events, call Susie Hill, Director of Economic Development and Tourism, at (540) 459-6227.