The sun is up and the throngs are making their annual Memorial Day weekend pilgrimage here with vehicles chock full of kids, beach chairs, sunscreen, and beer. There are two ways to access the island, and the controversial route that included a ridiculously high toll was made free this weekend when the city finally purchased it from a Chinese corporation. It seems like just a few years ago that there were no condominiums on the beaches and the only way to the island was a rickety bridge made of railroad ties. Now the throngs come to see what is really - no longer there.
This is one of my favorite holidays not because it ushers in summer, but it brings back, in full force, my feelings of gratitude and sentiment for the young men who died on battlefields. It is a mystery to me how men are compelled to fight, but I am incredibly, humbly appreciative for their protection of a way of life that has given so many of us countless freedoms.
Glenn Miller is on the stereo, my poppy is pinned to my sundress, the pie is in the oven, and the fixings for the potato salad are about to come out of the fridge.
Around the picnic table will be the empty place that is always set in honor.
Have a peaceful day!
