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It’s now the middle of May, and one day after Mother’s Day. May is full of family activities. There’s high school and college graduation. Most high schools put their prom during May. As I mentioned in my “Foto Memory Minute” yesterday, there are a lot of local festivals and rodeos to attend. So, what have you done to strengthen your family this month? I wanted to highlight two or three opportunities in particular.

Perhaps this is a day late, but yesterday was Mother’s Day here in the U.S. Did you do something nice for your mother? Did you call her and let her know that you were thinking of her and tell her thanks for all of the sacrifices that she made while she was raising you and for all of the nice things that she did for you? If not, it’s not too late.

I know it’s not a perfect world. If it were, every one would have a dear mother who met them at the door after school with a hug and a plate of warm, homemade cookies. In reality, divorce and sheer economic realities have forced many mothers out of the home. So…if you don’t have a mother to show your appreciation to, what about your grandmother, aunt, sister or wife? Even if you have daughters, they will grow up to be mothers some day. Mother’s Day is a day to recognize not only our mother, wife and grandmother, but all women in general - that special aunt, not to mention our daughters, cousins, and nieces. So, go ahead and reach out to the women in your life. Aside from the usual flowers, jewelry and chocolate, you can make a unique gift by putting together a photo montage of all of your favourite snap-shots to present to her. Don’t forget to call or visit them too. As mom always says, the best and most thoughtful gifts don’t come from the store.

Memorial Day, at the end of May, is another special day set aside for honoring special people - the nation’s fallen veterans. Now, I don’t want to get into a debate about the merits of the current conflict. What I do want to do, however, is to remind you to support the troops. Remember and honor the men and women who serve in the nation’s military, both in the present conflict, as well as the past. Draw your family together and do something for the troops - write cards, put together care packages, raise a flag to pole and fly the flag…whatever. Just do something together. By honoring the veterans as a family, you instill a sense of pride, community and ownership in your children. You also build memories. Even though technically Memorial Day is designated to honor fallen veterans, and Veterans Day is meant to honor living veterans, you can still take this opportunity, if someone in your family has served in the military, your father, uncle, grandfather, brother, or son, make them the guest of honor at a family awards banquet that focuses on their story of heroism. You can also interview your veteran and record their story in your family history. If you don’t have any veterans in your family, and don’t have any desire to get involved with today’s military people, pick a military conflict in our nation’s history and have each family member research it. Try to be as fair and unbiased as possible and then get together to share the history that you have discovered. You can get pictures of past conflicts from the National Archives to add to a scrap book or digital scrap book.

Memorial Day is also the start of the summer bar-b-que season. Gather all of your family and friends around. Have everyone bring their favorite outside dish. And enjoy good food, good company, and good weather. (Even our VEGAN friends can enjoy a backyard bar-b-que, since there are no rules limiting a cook out to sausage, hamburgers, ribs and brisket.)

Now that you are armed with some new ideas, go out and make some memories with your family.

-Texaiano

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