This weekend kicks off the unofficial start of summer. The calendar marks the first day of summer as June 21st, (ok I am really just guessing on this one - maybe it's the 22nd - but likely you don't know the date either so we are just going to go with it as the 21st), yet most people relate the beginning of summer with Memorial Day Weekend. When I was a kid, that meant school was done for the year, so maybe that is where it comes from. Unfortunately for my own children, they have always had to go to school until the first or second week of June. At any rate, Memorial Day Weekend is upon us, which means no matter how cold the water is, some of you will be finding yourself at a beach, lake, pool, cabin or campground this weekend. Personally, I have yet to make any firm decisions about my weekend. As I stated to one of my very closest bestest friends this morning, I am being somewhat dysfunctional about scheduling my weekend. I am currently trying to get the most out of my days until summer classes begin and I will be too busy with both work and school to have fun in the sun every free moment. However, that makes it more difficult to decide what to do when there are so many options! I am hoping to balance this weekend between friends and family, punctuated by a lot of sun, laughing, eating and drinking!
This all brings me back to the ghosts of Memorial Day Weekends of the past. There is a legend that it always rains on Memorial Day weekend. I can't verify if that is the truth, or if it just means I always remember those Memorial Day weekends where the anticipation of it was ruined by finally "getting there" to sit inside a cabin or a camper or a tent all weekend without anything to do but play 400 exciting rounds of UNO, Scrabble, or Pass-Out. One particularly memorable Memorial Day Weekend from in the early/mid 1990's, went horribly wrong when my husband decided that the traffic on highway 41 North was way to congested, and he was going to take a "back way" up to my parents' house in the Crivitz area. It probably took us an hour longer than it might have. The boys were very little at the time and not happy about being in the car for that many hours. Neither was I. We stopped in Peshtigo at a little grocery store to buy beer and they had 30 packs of Coors Gold on sale, which we purchased. Finally got to my parents house, cracked open a beer and it was the worst beer we had ever tasted. As the weekend progressed, either it tasted better, or we just got used to it. It rained all weekend, and we played 400 rounds of UNO at my parents kitchen table. We returned to Green Bay on Monday afternoon with one lone can left from the case. We put it in the refrigerator, and thought nothing more of it... until we moved... and then we moved again... and then we moved again....that can of beer moved with us each and every time. And though over the years no one would ever attempt to drink it, for some reason, we could not let it go. Maybe over time we thought it represented something... or possibly we were just waiting for the opportune moment for someone to lose a bet, lose a game, and finally be forced to drink it. Over the years there would be those nights when one of us or one of our guests just wanted one more beer, but when offered, no one was brave enough to drink Mr. Coors Gold. When we bought our house in 2004, that unopened can moved with us. Finally, one night the subject came up about how they probably don't even make Coors Gold anymore, and discussion ensued - someone eventually had to drink that can of beer. Although he had been offered that beer several times in the past, no one had ever pushed my husband's cousin Justin. But this night, we happened to dare him. And when you put it out there on a dare, Justin would not be one to turn it down, so in the blink of an eye, he drank that well-aged beer. And to this day the empty can sits on a shelf in our garage.
Hello Memorial Day Weekend!
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