It's Memorial Day Weekend

After the slow-moving March and April, May is moving by quickly.  Memorial Day weekend sneaked up on me.

One reason was the cool weather, it did't feel like the end of May.  And then there is the way the calendar falls, with Memorial Day on the 25th, early.  And for another thing - there has been no plant shopping.  Usually, in May, I make lots of visits to the big box store, looking for bargains that are marked down before the truck arrives with new plants.  This year the closest I've come is driving past the local nursery, where the parking lot is always full, like every other year.

My plan is to divide some perenniels, fill in a little that way.  And I will probably find some annuals here and there.  The little grocery on Monmouth Street always has a few plants on the sidewalk, never has a crowd.

Last night I ordered some summer shorts from my favorite retailer.  Other summers, I would duck into Sears while Nora had her music lessons - that favorite brand had its own little store within the store.  It was fun to see whether something I liked was marked down that week.  Now, there is no more Sears, the music store and the mall have been temporarily closed, and Nora's music lessons are on some virtual platform.  It seems like a long time since we've had some Aunt Annie's pretzel nuggets after her lesson.

Most days, I move forward, feel happy, feel like I'm adjusting.  And then, like now, I remember those music lessons and Aunt Annie's pretzels and I feel so sad, reminded of the day-to-day simple pleasures that are missing now.  I just sit with the sadness for a bit, don't stay there, but somewhere in the depths of my soul, it must still be there.

(Oh, and I finally got a green light bulb, a way in my state that we remember the folks who have died from the virus.)