2021 Life Logs, Day 254: Remembering
Date: Saturday, September 11, 2021
Weather: Beautiful Day and Evening; High Temp 74, Low Temp 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I saw a sign today that said, “Never forget to remember.” It was in reference to 9/11, but it has haunted me all day. What does that mean? Of course, we always want to remember the loss of loved ones and celebrate their lives. We have fought wars for twenty years to make sure the world knows we won’t forget what happened on 9/11. But in the back of my mind, I wonder if that sign carried with it a bit of vindictiveness. I hope I’m just being cynical, and that it meant just what it said. But whatever, thinking about what happened in this country on 9/11, led me to thinking about what happened on January 6. On 9/11, the entire country united. A foreign adversary had attacked us. On January 6, citizens of our own country attacked our nation’s capital. What’s worse? Being attacked from outside or from within? For me it is the latter and in previous times, I would have assumed that everyone would feel the same way. But after January 6, an already divided nation became even more divided. I’m afraid I don’t see a way to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
I finally just had to clear my mind of all the thoughts of 9/11 and January 6 because, for me, September 11 has a more personal remembrance and I only wanted to be thinking happy thoughts. Mark died five years on this day and certainly never a day goes by that I don’t think of him. I could write a book about all the wonderful things that Mark meant to me. I guess, in fact, I am writing a book that includes those things.
But on this day each year, I invite Heather and family to go out to dinner with me in honor of Mark. Tonight, we went to The Chart Room at Kingman Marine. They have greatly expanded their outdoor seating during Covid, and we definitely wanted to eat outside, not inside. But so did what seemed like a couple of hundred other people. I got there around 5:20, but by the time I got a parking place it was a few minutes later. Then I had to walk from the end of the parking lot to the restaurant which took another bit of time. By the time I got our name on the list, the wait list was already long. I was told it would be an hour to an hour and a half wait. I then started walking back to my car to get my mask that I forgot to bring with me, and while doing that I sent a text to Heather explaining the situation. They were almost there and decided that we would go for it and wait. Lucky for us the wait was a lot shorter than we had been told and we got a great table under an outside tent. 
The service was very good and while waiting for our dinner to arrive, we got to watch a beautiful sunset. 
Everyone loved their choices for dinner from Sam’s prime rib to Jonah’s best ever grilled cheese to Ollie’s stuffed quahog and clam chowder. Then in honor of Mark, he who LOVED sweets, we just had to have dessert. Ollie was so taken with his mudslide that he looked like he was worshipping it.
As we walked to our cars after dinner, Sam decided we all needed to go to the beach on the way home to get our toes in the sand. I asked what beach and Heather said it had to be Falmouth Heights. Evidently the night after Mark died, they were driving home from my apartment on the harbor and stopped at Falmouth Heights Beach to look at the beautiful almost full moon. Heather shared that when they were looking up, four-year old Ollie said that he knew Granddad was still out there somewhere and that he would never forget us . . . and we would never forget him. So, yes, it did have to be Falmouth Heights Beach tonight. And just as we arrived, someone was shooting off fireworks. Tonight, it was a bright crescent moon that was up there. 
Not a full moon, but it was still beautiful. And it is always a good idea to end an evening by digging your toes in the sand.
