The Start of Summer

 

7pm on Memorial Day and it looks like this might be the first Memorial Day in as long as I can remember that doesn’t involve ice cream. Brent’s starting pretty strong w/ his “we’re not eating ice cream every weekend Memorial Day through Labor Day” policy, which I’m hoping is just a bluff. 

Everyone knows the best part about Memorial Day is standing in an outrageously long line at your neighborhood stand for a sundae w/ cold hot fudge clumping up the first few bites and more Reddi-Wip than ice cream, while being served by a surly high schooler who expects you to put all your change in the tip jar or they won’t give you more than the one allotted napkin. It’s the only way to kick off your summer.

Brent and I had some pretty solid MDW plans including Home Depot trips, DIY house projects, trying new restaurants, seeing old friends, maybe catching a movie if the theater wasn’t crazier than Britney Spears circa 2007; you know, the usual. I worked on Saturday and thought I would be heading home to a nice lunch, some cold beers, maybe even a bubble bath drawn and ready to go. Instead my weekend commenced w/ standing around and trying to help Brent assemble patio furniture in the sweltering garage for an hour, which was exactly what I wanted to do after standing for nine hours in a sweltering kitchen. Memorial Day weekend win! 

Once the deck was mostly ready for summer, we celebrated our hard work by having the first beers of the season out there. We just ordered our grill and I’m beyond excited to start having grilled corn on the cob, asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini; all the grilled things. I don’t know why I’m so excited about the vegetables when hot dogs and hamburgers are the epitome of summer eating to me, but I’ve been drooling over veggie kebobs since we got the order confirmation number. There was a Memorial Day special that included shipping and delivery, and knowing that I won’t have to stand around holding tools while Brent does all the hard labor is the cherry tomato on top of the kebob.

It was a great weekend spent eating good food, relaxing with drinks, getting around to some much needed projects, and catching up w/ friends. 

I would be ashamed if I didn’t acknowledge why we have this long holiday weekend that always starts the summer off on such a great note. Every year the flags go up in the Boston Common, and I haven’t had the chance to see them yet this year (that first picture is from two years ago), but I’m hoping I can make it soon b/c it’s such an incredible sight. The service and sacrifice of so many, the “all gave some, and some gave all” and “land of the free b/c of the brave” memes that I’m seeing around social media today that are truly what this holiday is all about. 

Not ice cream. But I’m still holding out hope I’ll have a scoop before the weekend's over. Summertime and the ice cream eating’s easy.