The peonies above are plants taken from Vanessa's maternal and paternal great grandmothers' gardens. Vanessa's maternal great grandparents had a tradition of visiting and decorating graves on Memorial Day. It was an all-day event, traveling from cemetery to cemetery. And I considered myself extra lucky when I was able to join them. We'd use flowers from their garden to make huge arrangements. Peonies were always first choice and we'd use roses and other assorted flowers as fillers. It was very important to my grandmother that we take the time to remember those we had lost, for they all impacted our lives in some way.
