Memorial Day 2009

I feel as though this is going to be a long post; there is so much in my head, and in my heart today.

We arrived home a couple of hours ago after a good weekend with our sons and daughters-in-law. Now, I've just realized that I've started at the end rather than the beginning.

I had a terrible week last week. I was an emotional wreck and couldn't figure out why. A nightmare that was actually, according to my hearers, pretty amusing, had me in tears. My problems with Blogger, with the bank, with some issues at school, with some responsibilities, all seemed insurmountable. I was dealing with things at work and trying to be a good friend to those who were asking things of me. But in all honesty, I've no idea how well I did. There were a couple of times when I wondered if I was losing my mind.

We had plans to go south for the holiday weekend, and it was late Friday morning that it dawned on me what was wrong. Friday of Memorial Day weekend last year was when Joe "got sick" which is the euphemism we use for "had a serious heart attack."

Little wonder I was a mess. Memorial Day this year could have had a far more personal meaning for me.

Once this was figured out, I somehow was better.

We had a long and stressful drive to Alexandria on Friday evening. The traffic on the highway was thick and slow moving (with a nod to Honna). A&A's hospitality was terrific, though, and we had a nice visit with them and were on our way to Richmond at a reasonable hour on Saturday. Again, congested traffic was the order of the day, but we arrived safely at T&A's home and Joe settled immediately into their welcoming hammock for a nice nap.

On Sunday evening we attended a Memorial Day event at T&A's church. There were readings, hymns, and the performance of a requiem (Anastasia was the harpist), all of which were very beautiful and a reminder of what Memorial Day really is about -- it is not just a three-day weekend and the unofficial start of summer. I was moved to tears during part of the program.

Again splendid hospitality from a son and his wife. Joe realized on Saturday morning that he'd forgotten to bring his pills with him, but a phone call home to the pharmacy and a trip to a local one in Richmond solved the problem. We did a lot of good eating and high quality laughing with both pairs of kids.

The trip home was surreal. Simply unwilling to cope with the Interstate again, we took an alternate route and for the first several hours had absolutely no traffic whatsoever. We stopped at an unknown lunch spot in an unknown town in Maryland and, friends, it was the kind of place where you'd expect to see Ruth and Idgie walk through the door at any minute brandishing their fried green tomatoes. The proprietress was doing it all -- clearing the tables, taking the orders, cooking the orders, delivering the food, and all with a style and panache that had us captivated. People seemed to know each other but the fact that they didn't know us --yet -- didn't daunt them a bit. We had a marvelous lunch and splurged on a chocolate milkshake to go, because somehow we knew she would make it just right.

So, as I started out, we're home, and Memorial Day is nearly at an end. And I'm okay. And so is he.

Love from,