I know that Memorial Day has come and gone, but not the opportunity to pay tribute. This is a picture of my grandfather, Alton Lee Overton, taken in 1966. He served in the United States Air Force in both Korea and Vietnam. He is laid to rest at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, Nevada.Before his passing, he would volunteer on Memorial Day to help post flags on the grave sites. It is a very inspiring sight, to see all of those flags lined up. The sad thing is that I couldn't tell you if I ever went prior to 2006, but since then, we have a tradition to visit each Memorial Day.
Aside from thinking of Grandpa everyday, and wishing he was still with us, this is an opportunity for me to really think about him and put all of the "catastrophes" of my life aside. To stop for a minute and breath. A time for me to really think about the good in my life and the things that I know make him proud. I know that egocentricity of my younger years kept me from memories that I will never have, but that makes the ones that I do have so much more special.
I know he is most proud of my family. (He always liked Ray, and I know that he played a part if us finally getting our act together and ge
tting married.) Just wish he could have been here to see it in person.The pictures of Ali are in chronological order, the first being 2006. I think that was the first time she sat on grass! The next from 2007, is my favorite, that has found itself on many a screen saver! Then he in 2008 , she was 2 1/2 and insisted on a cute pose. Rounding off with this year where we deterred from our standard setting to a picture of her and her pine cone collection that she spent the majority of the visit collecting. She is taking after Grandma!
