DATING, SORT OF

Let me backtrack for a moment. My grandson will turn 2 on the 28th of May. Because his first birthday was spent in the hospital with fast onset TransVerse Myelitis, this birthday is special in that he is having his therapies as an outpatient, even with some of the therapists coming to his home. He is making wonderful progress, and is now walking mostly on his own. His mother wanted to have a big party with lots of family and friends this coming weekend. Great! She wanted to have it at our house. Great! She Emailed everyone Evites. Great! She had a space on them to RSVP. Great! Many people would not be coming. NOT great!. Why? They had already made plans for that weekend, because it was Memorial Day! NO, NO, NO! Memorial Day is on the 30th, not the 24th! What are they thinking? Look at the calendar! So I did, and good grief, it says that Memorial Day is the 26th!

I am not crazy (unless you ask my husband). Memorial Day was always May 30th.When I was growing up, it was a big deal. The town I lived in had a huge parade where all the fire engines rode by blaring their sirens in front of cheering spectators lining the streets. Scout troops marched by, waving at their parents and friends, even though they were not supposed to. Bands marched by playing patriotic songs. Elaborately decorated convertibles drove past holding the town's beauty pageant contestants flanking the winner from the previous year. Organizations from town businesses had floats. The best car held the Grand Marshall, usually a politician, smiling and waving to his constituents. The parade itself took up many miles until finally everyone in it reached the town library. When all were present there, veterans led the pledge of allegiance and laid a commemorative wreath and made some speeches. Flowers had been placed on the graves of those who had served in the military, along with small American flags. The holiday really MEANT something. I find it insulting that the date should be changed to give the public a three day weekend.

To prove that I am correct about the true date of Memorial Day I went back through other calendars, and there it was: one from 2007 had May 28th listed as "Memorial Day (observed)" and then May 30th as "Memorial Day (traditional)". Another calendar that I received from the Veterans of Foreign Wars placed Memorial Day on the 30th but with the "observed" day on the 28th. That one had images of the flag on it, and on the observed day, it flew at half mast "until noon". The veterans would care about that, as they should. I basically have saved every calendar from the beginning of our marriage, but I won't go through them all now. Just take my word for it that an important, if not sacred, holiday is being shoved onto a different day to suit the public's desire for three day weekends and sales.

Another holiday that is celebrated at the whim of higher powers is President's Day. This is a conglomerate made up of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln's birthday on February 12th and George Washington's on February 22nd. My 2008 calendar shows the shared birthdays on February 18th which JUST HAPPENS TO BE A MONDAY! Not only can we celebrate the two presidents together, we can also have a day off to go shopping all the "President's Day" sales. How convenient! Columbus Day is another peripatetic holiday. This in my 2006 calendar it is shown on Monday October 9th making a three day weekend. But in my 2007 calendar the day is on Monday October 8th. Hmm. This year, 2008, my calendar says that it is "Observed" on October 13th. This Monday holiday thing is getting ridiculous, but October 8th is in the middle of the week this year and it is also the start of Yom Kippur, so I guess it was more polite to move Christopher's day. My birthday is March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day, which just happened to fall on a Monday this year. But if it didn't, would it have been put there to make a three day weekend? And then there's Independence Day, better known as the "Fourth of July". Let's see them try to mess with that!