Opinion

It’s the unexpected that makes an impression, even on a trip made over and over. For the past few years our family has “vacationed” (using that word quite loosely) in Minnesota.

In the years following the bitter Civil War, a former Union general took a holiday originated by former Confederates and helped spread it across the entire country. The holiday was Memorial Day, an annual commemoration was born in the former Confederate States in 1866 and adopted by the United States in 1868.

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States, established to remember and honor those who died while serving in the military. In most local communities, remembrances are not limited to soldiers buried there but rather, flowers are placed on the graves of family and friends as well. I have always taken the time to honor this service and sacrifice of soldiers of the United States of America by finding a story to share of one such life, but first some facts.

Dear Doctors: Can you please talk about myasthenia gravis? Our oldest daughter has been diagnosed with it. She’s 33 and lives with her family in another state, but we want to understand what she’s dealing with. I just read about Chinese herbs that can be helpful. Do you know if that’s true?

Residents and visitors to Kansas can still hear some primal sounds that speak to attentive humans the very essence of wildness. One is the clatter of migrating Sandhill Cranes, rising with the sun in their thousands from their roosting areas at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge or Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and returning at dusk.