For those of you who know me, you may have already heard this true story, if so I apologize.

Today is Memorial Day, and because of that, I remember the long-standing tradition my family had of yearly taking flowers to our relative’s graves to decorate them (my older relatives would call it Decoration Day).  Because of that, we noticed when an unusual mystery began that involved two of our family’s grave sites, along with one single, long-stemmed rose.   For years, the rose would alternate on one grave or the other, but never on both graves the same year.  We had a small family, so there weren’t too many suspects, and they swore they were not bringing it.   And that is how the real-life mystery in our family proceeded for many decades, and has never been solved.

These are the facts:

The red rose was obviously from a florist and wrapped in tissue paper.  There were no markings on the paper to explain what store it came from.

The rose first appeared on my cousin’s grave after his death in 1968, and was on it exclusively until 1974.  After that time and the deaths of my aunt and uncle, the rose alternated between my cousin’s grave and my aunt & uncle’s.

My aunt and uncle did not have children, so my cousin was not their child.

Although they were all buried in the same huge cemetery, their graves were so far apart we often drove to each because of the distance.  The graves were not close enough for the flower to inadvertently be left on one or the other monuments, the rose had to be purposely taken where it was found.

The rose continued to appear every Memorial Day on one of the graves until it stopped suddenly around 2005.  It was always a fresh red rose from the florist until the last couple of years when it was replaced by a single, red silk rose.

We visited the graves at Christmas, and other times throughout the year, but the rose never came then.  The red rose only appeared on Memorial Day.

Over the years, there were relatives or friends we suspected might be responsible for it.  But they passed away, and the rose kept coming.  We know of no one with connections to both my cousin–along with my aunt and uncle–who passed away when the rose quit appearing, that would explain why it stopped coming.  Nor did any relatives, the few we had left, pass away at that time either.

So, who was bringing the rose?  We never did know, and that is the puzzle…if anyone has an idea, I would welcome your comments!

Hope your Memorial Day was happy, and not mysterious!

God bless you all!!