Ah, its Memorial Day weekend, Crickets! And do you know what that means? We can start to wear white now! Lol…okay sorry, that’s not what it means but I had to throw it in there. Actually though as a child growing up I always was told that you couldn’t wear white until after Memorial Day and up to Labor Day. I followed that rule until a few years ago when I was watching this popular show called “What Not to Wear” and the host and hostess (Stacy and Clinton) declared that the aforementioned rule was stupid and ridiculous and that you could wear white anytime you so felt the need or want. Since then I have thumbed my nose at society and have rocked the saafed (white in Hindi) whenever the spirit has moved me. Oh yea, watch it!
But okay other than the whole white thing, this weekend represents a few more important popular American…um…stuff. I couldn’t think of a better word so you’re stuck with ‘stuff’. Mem Day weekend is all about the real coming of summer, the shedding of more clothes than has already been shed, the busting out of bikinis, the cleaning off of grills that hadn’t already been cleaned and vacations being planned. Kids are tromping around every where prepared to graduate; parties are being plan up the yingyang and nearly everyone gears up to spend a few long lazy warm evenings on stoops or decks chatting with friends/family.
In fact, some of my best memories come from what I still think is the ultimate childhood, the sort that kids of today unfortunately no longer experience. This was how any typical summer day was for me (with a few variations thrown in):
*Get up, have breakfast and watch cartoons.
*Complete some chores.
*Change and go outside.
*Play, play, play and then when you’re tired…play some more.
*Ride bike everywhere and nowhere.
*At one point score ice cream from the trucks with the pretty music as you clutch a dollar in your hand and sprint for them.
*Rip or dirty clothes was a must.
*Biking to 7-11 to buy a big gulp sometimes, also a must.
*Learning to ride a bike without hands, and master it by the end of the summer!
*Monkey around on the jungle gym at the nearby elementary school.
*Fly high on the swings.
*Play freeze tag with the neighborhood kids.
*Have lunch at your friends place or they come to your place but there was always apple juice.
*Going to a friend’s home was okay because everyone in the neighborhood knew each other.
*Play, bike, play, bike.
*Got called in before Magrib to wash up.
*Have dinner with family.
And after dinner, what did we do? This is where the nostalgia really kicks in and makes me yearn for those days: As the hot days would morph and cool into lesser heated evenings, the sun sinking slowly into the distant horizon as the moon would rise, glorious and pearly white; the fireflies would come out and twinkle in the darkness. My mother would make her way out to the stoop to sit and catch the breeze after a long day of chores and cooking, as would so many other parents in the neighborhood (although what they did, I wasn’t sure). They would all be relaxed; some would wander over and congregate together to catch-up and gossip. The kids would run around in the dark catching fireflies in glass jars after poking holes in the lids. Or we would pretend as if we were princess, pirates, living in other lands, the darkness of the grass our ocean, the stars above our navigation. These were our nights.
Those were the days of innocence. Where there were no cell phones, no Smartphone’s, no tablets, no violent computer games or whatever it is that kids do to occupy their time. Summers meant us forced to stay outside and play or if we were inside we had allotted time to watch television or otherwise you would read. But the main theme was: go out, you’re children, run and play because for the rest of your adult life, you will have little time to enjoy this luxury. GO!
Anyhow those were our summers, and the heralding in of those wonderful days and nights? Memorial Day! I know I sort of went off on a trip down memory lane here (and a bit of a tangent), like when don’t I right? But to be honest, if I had to pick another time of my life to relive, those would be it. *le sigh*
Oh and another thing that is definitely synonymous with Mem Day Weekend? Why Rolling Thunder, of course! Want to know what that is? Well check it out: http://dc.about.com/od/specialevents/a/RollingThunder.htm now I can’t think of this weekend without picturing bikers on all sorts roaring beauties cruisin’ all around DC. Anyone into bikers, y’all should hot foot it toot-sweet into town cause they are literally everywhere! Good stuff.
Anyhow folks, have a lovely weekend, long weekend, day, night, whatever…just make it good.
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