No parade in Patten today to honor the war dead. No ceremony at the cemetery, I did hear some sirens, and maybe there was some kind of motorcade, it did not come down my street and I heard nothing about any way that the town was marking the day.
I stayed near to home today, did not leave my yard. An antidote to yesterday when I made a trip to Millinocket that included three stops. All safe. All socially distanced. All had masks. Today I woke up with a pull and push of feelings. It was so good to see the eyes, the expressions, feel the connections with a few of my friends. It was very good to good a chiropractic treatment. And it is so clear that the new normal is not normal.
I don't want to put anyone at harm, I don't want to be at harm's way. Each day, each time I leave my home it is weighing and calculating risk. Earlier today, I never wanted to leave my porch again, by late afternoon I was glad that I had a safe plan to go to Deer Isle for summer solstice.
I have all the winter clothes out of the bedroom, I have one tub of summer clothes to bring in and put away. There are clothes in the front closet that will be moved to my closet in the bedroom. Then that transition is done.
The gas grill needs to be wheeled out, it still needs some cleaning. The top of the grill cabana has to be put on, but that is a two person job and I will have to figure that out this week.
On Wednesday folks are coming to rake the lawn and put the leaves in bags so they can be hauled away. My oh so dependable lawn guy, blew a tire out on his truck, lost control, and it rolled. He is ok, the truck is not. Hope he had good insurance it was such a new truck and he took such good care of it. I am sad for him. Not what anyone wants.
And yes it is Memorial Day. I tried to find my folder with all of my old poems, I wanted to pull out a Memorial Day poem from the past. I could not find the folder. I am hopeful that it is on a back up drive or I just couldn't pull it out on the hard drive today or.... almost all of poems are in hard copy in a folder, but I had worked hard to have them on the computer and in a folder and now, this memorial day....who knows....but I am not looking any further today.
I have the same questions today as I have had when a poem was spurred: Who are we remembering today? Who are our hero's? Who would we remember if we had a day to honor those who are no longer here who lived and modeled and breathed the values of peace and justice? How is it that this new country of democracy the USA who have fought for democracy around the world, could be in this place where we know so little and value even less of democracy today?
Who honors a flag that really holds the value of country -- we the people, forming a more perfect union, liberty and justice for ALL? It is Memorial Day. I am on my porch, the birds are singing now that the wind has died down. From my porch I can see three American flags waving, one Trump flag and I wonder what are we pledging allegiance too?
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