“The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance later that month. Waterloo-which first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866-was chosen because it hosted an annual, community-wide event, during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags. Nevertheless, in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. It is unclear where exactly this tradition originated numerous different communities may have independently initiated the memorial gatherings. So, I began an experiment to see how much they really cared. They had just told me and the other members of the youth group that we were the future of the church and that we were so important to them. During those two weeks NO ONE from church called me, texted me, or even sent a message in a bottle to me. However, during May, I had to skip a couple of weeks at church due to decorations at cemeteries and work on the farm. For the first few weeks after I finished finals, I went to my church. In late April, I finished my finals for my spring semester of college.
When I went home, I went to my church, the church that I had dedicated five years of my life to, and the church that had told me that I was important to them.
At school, I attended a church in town as often as I thought I could (although it definitely was not enough). Throughout my two semesters at my college, I went home every two weeks.