“Living in Harmony” (Harmony, Minnesota)
One of the first things that hits you spending Memorial Day in Southeastern Minnesota (variously known as “Bluff Country,” “the trout fishing capital of Minnesota” — or “the sticks”) is all the flags on display.
Not just at the Courthouse and City Hall, 
but in front of virtually every store and private home.
The next thing you notice is all the flowers in the cemeteries.
And the people visiting them.
On vacation with my family, it temporarily slipped my mind that it was Memorial Day (I’d missed my super-strength homemade coffee), and I wondered why there were so many funerals taking place in the countryside.
City Slickers
Clearly, this isn’t how Memorial Day is commemorated in ‘the (Twin) Cities.’
For city slickers of a certain age, it’s a vacation day, a family day.
The historic significance has been dulled by the passage of time, and (blessed) insulation from the sacrifices of war.
In small Minnesota towns like Preston, Lanesboro, and Harmony (yes, Harmony), the connection to this country’s long and illustrious history is less attenuated.
P.S.: “You know you’re a city slicker when . . . ” Department: you see “Rest” by the side of the road, and you assume it’s an abbreviation for “restaurant.”
In fact, “Rest” actually really does mean “rest” — as in, “stop and take a break.”
