The Flag Holder

A month or so ago, I was out working in my yard. We bought the house we’re living in now about a year-and-ahalf ago, so I don’t know every nook and cranny yet. So, as I was spraying some weed killer along the outside perimeter, I came across something I had not yet noticed… a flag holder.

I’m sure you know the kind I mean — it kind of looks like a large wall-mounted bottle opener. When I was a kid, pretty much every house in the neighborhood had one, usually near the door or on the corner of the front of the house. That’s where this one was. I remember the flag we had out there by our front door. I don’t know how long we had it or when it came down, but I definitely remember it.

I’ve been riding my bicycle some lately, trying to get a little exercise, and so I decided to take a little inventory, and you know what? A lot of the houses in the neighborhood still have them. Some even still fly a flag on them.

Most of the ones who do not have them are ones who have replaced their old siding with vinyl siding some time over the course of the last 40 years. I suppose unless you specifically mention the flag holder, the guys installing the siding just take it off and chunk it. Just another one of those traditions beginning to fade away, I guess.

Last Sunday at church, all of the kids (all of the ones who were there anyway… coronavirus is still keeping many at home) were handing out small U.S. flags. Not too small, but not full-size… the kind you stick in the ground temporarily. I took one and when I got home I looked up and saw the flag holder there on the side of my house. It’s a little small, but I like seeing it hanging there.

Happy Fourth of July!