Second Sunday in June

We went down by the old Davis Cemetery this evening to put flowers on the graves of my father, and brothers. The sun was sinking off to the west. The old cemetery has a lot of oak and hickory trees that provide a good shade, but without much of a breeze, it was still quite warm.
My friends Earl Hicks and Gary Woods were down there this evening putting the finishing touches on the cleanup effort. We sat in the shade and talked for a while, swatting gnats with sweetgum brushes. With all the rain this year, there seem to be clouds of them everywhere - gnats, I mean.
The light in that old cemetery is remarkable late in the evening when the shadows get long. Every now and then when you drive down there, you will see someone sitting by the side of a grave having a private conversation. It's peaceful down there. The only time the silence is broken is by the cooing of a turtle dove or by an old freight train passing through on its way to Tupelo or eastward toward Birmingham.
Tomorrow is the second Sunday in June which is decoration at Davis Cemetery. It also happens to be reunion day for our family. For years it was held at my mother's house, but she now lives with my sister so we gather at her house for lunch.
We once had a huge crowd every year, but most of the older family members have passed on and many of the younger ones don't make it to the reunion.
I was thinking that a lot of these younger folks don't like holding on to the past. But then, it's not really their past. I hope we have a good crowd tomorrow, for my mother's sake.