Things Keeping Us Going: It’s Been Raining the Entire Holiday Weekend Edition

Memorial Day Weekend Nor’easter

It is Memorial Day here in the United States. This is the day we honor those we lost serving in our armed forces. Traditionally, there are parades, wreath-laying ceremonies, and somber remembrances. It is also, as my local news station put it, the “Unofficial Start to Summer” marked with barbecues and camping and opening up beach houses for the season and such.

Only, here in New England, we have been experiencing a rare spring Nor’easter—a storm system that usually happens in the winter. They are cyclones that have cold cores rather than the warm cores typical of hurricanes. Almost always, they bring snow, a lot of snow, along with winds. This weekend, the storm has dropped the temperatures from the 90s (degrees Fahrenheit) to the 40s. It’s blown leaves and limbs from trees. Mostly, though, this Nor’easter has brought rain. Lots and lots of rain.

We have been in drought conditions for some time, so the rain is welcomed, if the timing is bad.

So, what’s kept me going despite having the weekend be a washout?

• Seeing my parents for the first time five months, along with my uncles, aunts, and cousins for the first time in over a year as we gathered (safely—yay vaccinations!) to celebrate my cousin Kate’s engagement. There is no laughter quite like the laughter my mother’s people bring. It comes from deep within the darkest places of ourselves, bringing a balm that relieves those aches.
• Taking my daughter shopping and out to lunch. It’s been so long since we have had a Mother-Daughter date. Plus, it is always fun to shop for someone who looks so beautiful in everything she puts on—well, except for that one Little House on the Prairie-inspired dress. They are all the rage right now, but I have no idea why. They make even my gorgeous daughter look like they died of dysentery on the Oregon Trail.
• Reading with my grandson. I cannot tell you how delightful it is to see this (not so) tiny toddler pull books off his shelf and bring them to you to read. This fella REALLY loves books. My heart might explode.
• Getting away from screens and reading a book—that I checked out of the library—myself. I have a stack going, of course, but this weekend it’s been Will Schwalbe’s Books for Living. Like any bookworm, I dig a book about books. I loved his first book, The End of Your Life Book Club, and spent a couple of years working through the nearly 200 titles in the bibliography. Books for Living is equally engaging, and has given me a new reading list to tackle.

What are you reading? I mean, what is keeping you going this week?