2019 Life Logs, Day 147: Happy Memorial Day
Date: Monday, May 27, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 76, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What a beautiful Memorial Day weekend we had here on Cape Cod. After weeks of weather that was too cool and too dreary, this weekend made up for all that ugly weather by being absolutely gorgeous. Heather, Jonah, and Ollie walked with the Scouts in the downtown Memorial Day parade this morning. I drove separately and went straight to the library lawn to wait for them to arrive for the ceremony. As I was walking across the lawn. I spotted my good friend Olivia White. Olivia was sitting in one of the seats provided. In the past, I have always stood during the ceremony as I assumed those seats were for veterans and their families. But Olivia was sitting in one of those chairs and asked if I would like one. I hesitated because I thought taking one would be ‘against the rules.’ But Olivia simply asked, “Are you going to get one or am I?” I can’t believe I just stood there, frozen in place, while Olivia went to get a chair for me. My father did a good job of teaching me to follow the rules. I literally get paralyzed just at the thought that I might not be following rules. But I’m glad Olivia doesn’t have that hang up because sitting during the ceremony was much more pleasant that standing the whole time. Thank you, Olivia!
I watched Ollie and Sam walking up the library walk with their Scouting buddies and once everyone was in place, the ceremony began. Afterwards there was a group photo of all the Scouts attending and then we headed home. I stopped at the gym to ride the stationary bike on the way home and then headed to Heather’s.
She was working on assembling another raised bed and the boys were relaxing in the backyard—Sam in the hammock and Ollie in his hanging tent. I planted the tomatoes I bought yesterday in the large containers that will be their home this summer, and then mid-afternoon, we all headed to the cottage.
Heather, Sam, and Ollie went kayaking and I sat on the dock in the sun and watched them for a while. I also watched the osprey in the nest on Wallers Island and eventually walked back to the cottage to start organizing dinner. After a bit, I walked back down to the dock and found a very wet Sam. At the end of his kayaking expedition, he somehow ended up in the water not far from the dock. He actually enjoyed the spill. But then he realized that his prized Ipod was in his pocket and his world fell apart. What had been a lovely day up to that point suddenly changed. We rushed to the cottage to get the Ipod wiped down and put in a container of uncooked rice. We won’t know for a couple of days whether or not this will save his Ipod. We all tried hard to regroup and about that time Jed and Jonah arrived from their drive home from Maine. I feel so bad for Sam. He struggled, but eventually he was able to enjoy the rest of the evening. I suggested that Heather take a quick trip home with Jed to show him the things she accomplished this weekend, and while they were gone, I let the boys have a water battle before cleaning up for dinner. Evidently, blasting your brothers with water solves all the world’s problems! We had a delightful dinner together to end our Memorial Day weekend. The high temperature for tomorrow is forecast to be 20 degrees cooler than today, so I guess our little slice of early summer is over. But it was wonderful while it lasted.
