With the excitement of the three-day weekend, all the cookouts and pool parties; and where we forget the cold harsh winter and look forward to bright sunshine and blooming flowers, it may be hard to remember the seriousness of the day.

Memorial Day is about remembrance. Remembering those who as President Lincoln said, “Gave their last full measure of devotion”. Lincoln said that after the deadliest battle the country has ever seen.

Fittingly, just years after the civil war Memorial Day events starting popping up all over the county.

Over 250 Union soldiers died in prison in Charleston during the Civil War and were buried in unmarked graves, and the town’s black residents organized a May Day ceremony in which they landscaped a burial ground to properly honor the soldiers; now this tradition has been adapted all across the country.

In 1968 when Congress passed the Uniform Holiday Act, designating Memorial Day as the last Monday in May rather than May 30, as it had previously been observed. This gave us a three-day weekend and the status of unofficial beginning of summer, mixing serious reflection with more lighthearted fun. On this Memorial Day, while you’re enjoying the it with family, friends and loved ones take a moment or two, and remember those who gave their lives– so that we can enjoy this beautiful day.