Monday will be Memorial Day. The mere mention of the holiday generates swirls of memories in my mind. Our observance of the day has probably undergone more changes in the seven decades I have lived than any other holiday we have throughout the year. Tradition tells us it started as a way to honor the Civil War dead, but soon included all military graves, and now we decorate the graves of friends and family, too. Graves have been replaced by urns containing ashes, and today many people have memorial services instead of funerals. I’m not making a judgment with regard to that, just recognizing that once again things that were familiar to me so long ago are becoming more rare today, like the fact that it is mostly the older generation who now decorates the graves. My Grandma Dame always called it Decoration Day. That was back when we observed it on May 30, regardless of what day of the week it fell on. I dislike the fact that it was changed in 1968 to the last Mo