Memorial Day

Today's the day for remembering those who lost their lives defending this country. For the most part, it's a 3-day weekend that kicks off the summer season that includes BBQs washed down with beer, family gatherings, a cheerful goodbye to winter. I had a boyfriend in college and I went to spend Memorial Day weekend at his house in East Rochester. His mother had lost her husband and oldest son in WWII. Memorial Day was a big deal in this family. We did the BBQ thing, too, but it was a little more somber than most.

We arrived in Jeffersonville at 9 pm on Friday, a bit later than planned. We decided to eat out because it was so late. At the first restaurant, the kitchen was closed. At the second, they were just about to close but did our order. The Chinese restaurant stays open until 11pm but I had a bad experience there with shrimp toast.

I actually slept until 6:40, the equivalent of my son's noon. After some light work and a few errands, I went off to yoga. Then I had a massage. Limp as a dishrag , I hopped into our car and we drove to PA for a BBQ. We arrived to find 10 people who had started their warm-up drinking at 10 am. We had a lot of catching up to do. The food and company were great, and we left around 9:30.

Sunday was another hot and steamy day. I started with a 4-mile jog along the river, and collapsed in the hammock when I got back. Marty made me breakfast, and then we went to a garden center to pick up a few plants. After planting most of them, I took a long-awaited shower and we had lunch. The rest of the afternoon, I took it easy, reading the newspaper and my book.

Our neighbor Lorraine came for dinner and we had a nice time. She's an Israeli woman of Belgian background who was orphaned in WWII and eventually emigrated to Israel where she served as a combat soldier in the army. She spends half the year in Israel where she has a family, and half in Jeffersonville, from which she commutes to NYC and works as a lawyer in the Israeli government. Somehow, the topic turned to politics where she expressed her belief that Obama is a very bad president and terrible for Israel. She likes Mitt Romney. I explained that the American people would never elect him president because he's a Mormon. Mormons are too exotic for American tastes, even weirder than Catholics and Jews. Forget Muslims.

We drove Lorraine up the hill and made plans to see her in 2 weeks. I came home and had some chocolate. I was in bed by 10, awakened only by a thunderstorm that raged sometime in the night.