Celebrating Memorial Day

I had plans to go to the Vineyard on Saturday and to spend the Memorial Day weekend and most of next week at my parent's house. I made the reservation a month ago, almost out of habit. I used to spend the warm holidays, or almost all holidays, on the Island since I bought my house almost eleven years ago. Money is tighter when you own a home and your priorities change: exotic vacation or new furnace? New clothes or seamless gutters? Remember that tax credit that was mailed to us a few years ago by Dubya? What did you do with yours? A weekend trip somewhere? Maybe a new computer? I treated my house for termites.

Memorial Day Parade, Darien, Conn., 1959

So, I was planning to be on the Vineyard for my week's vacation and at the last moment I thought long and hard about exactly what I would do there. The house is for sale, my mother's not there, I would have to keep the house clean, pray that the DSL was still connected, and if they planned on showing the house, I would have to put the cats in the car and drive around for an hour or so. Not exactly a relaxing time. So, I decided to cut my plans short and only go for a couple of days. I'll put some flowers and flags on my parents gravestone and maybe do a little gardening. When I called to change my ferry, she said "Monday is wide open." I said "Of course it is! Who goes to the Island on the last day of the holiday weekend?"

My father proudly photographing the Family and the Fiat.

I live in a small town in Massachusetts and we have a quaint Memorial Day parade that starts at the high school and ends in the center of town. It reminds me a little of the parades in Darien in the 1960's when I was growing up. Parades haven't changed all that much, but there's a formality that has been lost over the decades. Maybe you have some similar memories of parades in your town? Here's some photos of the Memorial Day Parade in Darien in 1965 that my dad captured on his camera. (Sorry I didn't have time to do much color correcting!)