Meridian, Idaho

A few facts and stats about Memorial Day from US Memorial Day.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.

Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “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. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363). This helped ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19th in Texas; April 26th in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

Red Poppies

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

She then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money going to benefit servicemen in need. Later a Madam Guerin from France was visiting the United States and learned of this new custom started by Ms. Michael. When she returned to France she made artificial red poppies to raise money for war orphaned children and widowed women. This tradition spread to other countries. In 1921, the Franco-American Children’s League sold poppies nationally to benefit war orphans of France and Belgium. The League disbanded a year later and Madam Guerin approached the VFW for help.

Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922 the VFW became the first veterans’ organization to nationally sell poppies. Two years later their “Buddy” Poppy program was selling artificial poppies made by disabled veterans. In 1948 the US Post Office honored Ms. Michael for her role in founding the National Poppy movement by issuing a red 3 cent postage stamp with her likeness on it.

National Moment of Remembrance

The “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution was passed on Dec 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, for all Americans “To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps.”

Meridian, Idaho

I never did smoke any marijuana again.

Not because it was a bad experience.

But because I found something better!

After smoking my first joint, I started Googling marijuana options again to learn more.

Turns out that marijuana for medical patients comes in many different forms. And now that recreational marijuana is legal in some states, these different forms are available to all who decide to imbibe.

First off, a bit about the strains of marijuana. There are three strain categories: sativa, indica, and hybrid.

Here are the descriptions for sativa and indica:

While discussing options with the saleswoman in Telluride, we decided that a hybrid of sativa and indica would best meet my desires.

But, and I’m not sure why, the Telluride store didn’t sell any marijuana other than the actual cannabis.

In my research, I found out that other stores sell medibles–cannabis-infused foods.

So off we drove to Durango, Colorado, to a store that sold medibles.

There were dozens of choices from the quintessential pot brownies to lollypots (oops lollypops)  to tootsie rolls. There are even drops that you can add to your favorite drink.

I bought a few tootsie rolls to try while we were still legal within Colorado.

They were FANTASTIC! I didn’t cough my lungs up. I didn’t stink to high heaven (no pun intended). And I still got high.

When consuming medibles, the high takes longer to come through than when smoking. And users must be careful to wait a while before deciding to have more because it’s easy to consume more than you think you are.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my Rocky Mountain Highs.

Will I do it again? You bet! I’d love to go back to Colorado, Washington, Alaska, or Oregon and get high again.

I hope that some day in my lifetime marijuana is as legal as alcohol and as illegal as alcohol is to imbibe and drive.

On a purely personal note:

I have neuropathy. All four of my limbs are numb and tingly. My legs are affected from my knees down, and my arms are affected from my elbows down. It feels like I have ants crawling under my skin 24 hours a day/7 days a week. I tried the standard traditional medicine for it, and my sensations decreased by 50%. Unfortunately, after the second dose I started urinating blood, so I stopped the medication.

If marijuana were medically legal in Idaho, I’d be asking my neurologist for a prescription because on the few times I used marijuana (consuming medibles or smoking a joint) my sensations decreased by 75% while I was high.

I wouldn’t consume it all the time, but it certainly would be nice to fall asleep a couple of times a week without thinking ants are under my skin. 🙂

Meridian, Idaho

I decided to try some of the marijuana later that same night.

We were staying in an RV park in Cortez, Colorado, but I just didn’t feel comfortable smoking pot in the park. The smell would be intense and very recognizable, and I still felt like a criminal.

I wrapped a joint and it turned out quite well considering how long it had been since I had wrapped one. Truthfully it took a few tries, but I was quite pleased with my efforts. 🙂

I actually Googled “How to Roll a Joint” and got lots of great advice on-line.

Rich and I drove out to a place in the nearby forest, and I lit up.

It’s just like riding a bicycle or riding a bicycle while smoking a joint–came right back to me. 🙂

Other than smoking marijuana less than a dozen times and smoking a cigarette once (and my mother caught me on the third puff), I have never smoked.

I was coughing and hacking within minutes. My nearly virgin lungs and throat were not ready for smoking a full joint.

So I smoked about half the joint.

Rich was keeping a careful eye on me. I kept assuring him that I was fine, and I was.

In fact, within about 15 minutes I was more than fine. I was HIGH!

I don’t like wine, but I’m guessing that a lot of what I was feeling was similar to what others feel after some wine.

I was calm and peaceful.

While I did have some internal dialog going on, it wasn’t rushed and I didn’t feel compelled to think things through to the end.

There were some warps in the flow of time. At times, seconds took minutes. At other times, minutes took seconds. It wasn’t scary; it just was…

I put my headphones on and listened to some of my favorite music. It was DIVINE. The music felt like it was being created inside my head and choreographed with gentle waves throughout at the same time.

The high lasted a couple of hours.

I slept very well that night.

And, the best thing? No hangover in the morning!

To Be Continued…

Boise, Idaho

During our travels in and around the western U.S., we stopped for a bit in Colorado.

We saw some amazing sights, but, for me, the best part of the stay in Colorado was my Rocky Mountain High!

Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana effective January 1, 2014.

I’d been looking forward to imbibing again for a very, very long time.

The last time I smoked pot was in 1979. It was not a pleasant experience because the pot was laced with something. I swore that I’d never smoke again until marijuana was regulated.

Who knew that regulation would actually happen a MERE 36 YEARS later?

Once we decided to drive through part of Colorado last October, I started researching recreational marijuana via Google.

There are a plethora of Web sites to help people find the best shop to meet their needs. There are also maps to show one how to best get there…

I ended up going to two shops: one in Telluride and one in Durango.

As we drove to Telluride, I kept changing my mind about whether to buy or not.

Once we got there, we stopped at a park to let Sophie run around. Sitting on the grass (no pun intended) were two guys stoned out of their minds as they continued to smoke.

Think of Beavis and Butthead. The guys we saw looked and laughed and spoke exactly like them. I told Rich that if ever there was an advertisement NOT to smoke, it was seeing those two guys.

I had only smoked a handful, well maybe two handfuls, of times before. I enjoyed the affects much more than drinking while I was a crazy teenager.

As we drove around the Telluride area, I finally decided to go ahead with my purchase because I might never have gotten the opportunity to do so again.

Rich dropped me off at the Alpine Wellness store. I had no idea what to expect as I walked into the door.

My driver’s license was checked at the first door to make sure that I was of age, but my license was not copied. The receptionist did add a line to her hash marks (no pun intended) count of residents vs. non-residents.

There were dozens of artistic looking bongs on shelves around the store. And the display shelves housed an overwhelming number of glass jars with a wide variety of colorful marijuana buds.

I was greeting by a 35-ish year old woman, dressed very professionally who looked and spoke like she was a college professor.

I confessed that this was my first time buying marijuana ever and that I hadn’t had any for decades.

We talked a bit about what I wanted. I didn’t want to get crazy high. I just wanted to get mellow, relax, and enjoy some music.

Turns out that growing marijuana now is an exact science. Different strains of plants produce different experiences.

The saleswoman recommended a particular type and said that she thought it would be perfect for me.

She bagged up an eighth ounce. Then we talked about papers to wrap the marijuana into a joint. I said that I used to use Zig Zag. She retrieved a package for me.

I had forgotten to get cash, so I pulled out my credit card, and she said, “Oh, we don’t take plastic. But there’s an ATM machine in the corner.” I withdrew some cash and paid $30 for the pot and a few bucks for the papers.

(Banks are reluctant to process transactions for pot stores because while it’s legal in the state, it’s still federally illegal to buy pot.)

With my purchase in a brown paper bag, I left the store.

I have to admit that even though I was within my legal rights, I felt like a criminal and sheepishly looked about as I hurried out to the Jeep where Rich was waiting like a bank heist getaway driver… 🙂

To be continued…