Happy Memorial Day!
Okay, that doesn’t really work, but I still
think that we do know how to commemorate and celebrate Memorial Day here in my
little home town; and we’ve had an awesome day – even with the parts that were
solemn and earnest as we remembered the sacrifices made by our ancestors.
My day began with Tai Chi by the river to a
glorious sunrise; an awesome breakfast with my family that Michael joined us
for – while giving up a gourmet breakfast at home to do that; and then we
needed to grab our saxophones and get to the falls to meet up with the band for
the parade once we’d taken our turns to get ready and help with the breakfast
clean-up. While a Memorial Day parade is
no place for Disney songs and merriment, I was still fired-up about getting to
do another parade with our marching band – and felt a bit nostalgic too knowing
that we’ll only have one more parade together before we disband the band. Our status as not-really-famous musicians did
not change the normal parade order; so the Piper band led off the parade as
always; and we brought up the rear and provided music for the spectators to
listen to as they followed after us and walked to the cemetery.
Writing about the parade as if it was an
adventure feels wrong to me too, but I still loved every minute of the parade;
getting to share that with Michael; and being able to do our part to make the
day memorable for everyone joining in for the holiday. The service at the cemetery hasn’t changed
much from year-to-year – at least since Mom and I moved here, but it was
moving, heart-felt, and heart-warming.
This year, Michael and I did the story time walk-around with the Johnson
clan, and that was particularly-special for me because I got to do that while
carrying Brianna around. She couldn’t
show off with so many people around, but she was fascinated by the stories; and
I helped out with some quiet expansion and details to answer some of her
questions. There are some family
overlaps with the stories that are told every Memorial Day, but many are also
unique to each family; and it’s also about as close as we get to keeping an
oral tradition alive – something that I believe we should do more of in our
society.
While that was an awesome way to wrap up
our morning, it was time to get to work for a while after that. Michael and I split up after helping to get
some of the Johnson clan kids home to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s so that we
could help our respective parents with getting our picnic contributions to the
park. Including getting set up for the
picnic and making those deliveries at the park end of the process; that took
more than an hour; and then we were two of the volunteers helping out with the kid
control through until after we all finished eating too much and generally
having a blast of food and fun for another hour and a half. After that, it was the post-lunch clean-up
that kept us busy for a while; and then we got to have a couple of hours to
actually do nothing but play with our family and friends. The weather was perfect for doing that with
the temperature hovering around eighty; and we joined in for a lot of the games
that were going on around the park – including playing one full inning of a
baseball game that had been set up to work like that – with players joining in
for just one inning each.
The national moment of silence was
observed, but the picnic really was a fun celebration in honor of our ancestors'
sacrifices, and while this never gets talked about at the Memorial Day
services; that does include the Magi that originally journeyed here and made
this town their home. That’s something
that I wish we could celebrate openly – especially when you think about how
difficult that journey would have been back then; and how remote the odds of survival
had been – especially after they lost their last Magi Master. Surviving the centuries since then, and doing
that while remaining firmly in the Light is remarkable; and all the more
incredible considering the fate of all other Magi of the Light elsewhere in the
world.
That’s a bit heavy for where I wanted this
update to go, though; so let’s get back to the news of the day.
We played at the park until four-thirty;
and then it was time to get to work yet again – this time to haul everything
home again and help our guests ready to head home again. Part two of that was fairly-easy at my house
because the Rice clan was already packed; so loading the vehicles didn’t take
long. They all wanted to get on the road
too because the traffic was sure to be awful tonight; so I didn’t even get to
spend much time saying goodbye to Dawn, Jillian, and everyone else. That did give me a chance to do a couple of
visits to say goodbye to the Proctor side of our family and the guests staying
with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, but those were too-short cameo moments too;
and I did not get to spend nearly-enough time with Jaimie, Kaitlyn, Jayden, or
the rest of our cousins – including the members of the Johnson family that have
been here all weekend.
All of the guests for our combined families
were on the road by a bit after six; Michael and I split up again so we could
have dinner with our own families – and help out with the chores for a
while. For Michael, that included a
visit to the Inn to help out with getting rooms cleaned once their guests had
left; though Miranda did have a small crew helping her out with that so it didn’t
take much longer than my work did helping Mom with cleaning our guest rooms and
getting the laundry started. Michael and
I did get together again for a while after that; and we biked the full path
around town with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia. We didn’t have time to really take it easy
and enjoy the adventure, but we did have fun for an hour; and then Michael came
home with me so that we could do a Magi lesson with Mom while Dad worked in the
office and the twins did some studying.
The lesson was entertaining; Michael and I
followed that up with some alone time in the lounge; and then we took care of
getting the twins tucked in before he went home and I came up to my room to get
started on my family business work and studying. I need to keep ahead of that this week while
we get started on the full-immersion exam studying; so I’ve again needed to
stay up late to do that – and likely will keep doing that through until we’re
done exams a week from Friday. I don’t
have any news worth mentioning for the work and studying, but will mention that
all of my family is home safely; and most of them had tough trips tonight with
too many traffic and accident issues.
No, none of them were involved in any of
those accidents; but the slow-downs caused by those accidents added hours to
all of those trips – regardless of whether they were heading north, east, or
south when they left here. Since I’ll get
to experience those holiday weekend trips while at college starting in a year
and a few months; I’ll just be glad that I haven’t needed to do that much so
far in my life; and I’m sure that we had it much better tonight while doing our
chores in the comfort of our home.
I don’t know if the same could be said for
the work and studying; though I was comfortable and had Mandy to cuddle with
while I worked. She’s getting a lot more
sleep than I am, so it’s time for me to wrap this up; and head off into nap
mode too. This has been a really great
day, and while Violet and Dillon might insist that Saturday was their best day
of the holiday weekend; I’ll pick this one for me because Michael and I
actually got to have some play time to go along with the work.
Then again, I have no idea what they’ve
been doing today; so maybe I’m wrong about that! ;^)
I shouldn’t have gone there; since I’m now
wishing that I’d kept Michael for a sofa sleepover. We should definitely make time for some of
those sleepovers – or more camping adventures now that the weather is nicer;
but that might not happen until after exams are done. My mind is wandering all over the place now,
though, and that’s a sure sign that it’s past-time for me to crash; so, until
next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
