My favorite holiday for all the wrong reasons

It is Memorial Day weekend.  I love Memorial Day.  Last year I bequeathed it to be my favorite of all holidays because:
1. It is the morning of my summer and I am most definitely a morning person.
2. I start out with high expectations for the season.  Plenty of hopes, plans for some fun outings, and lots of activity - stressing the root word ACTIVE in activity.
3. Nothing is expected of me on this day, compared to other holidays.  I don't have to decorate anything, nor must I feed, entertain, nor change sheets and clean for anyone.

I have been known to visit the cemetery to honor our brave military who fought for our country.  Particularly that of my own father, who served in Europe in WWII.  And I appreciate and acknowledge our duty to never let their memory die, nor let their sacrifice be forgotten,

for this would be a different and scarier world without them.  I confess that this is an obligation that I've sometimes neglected.

So as I crouch on the season's starting line,

waiting for the signal to launch, I'm perusing some of what's ahead:

1. The Marathon, about which I won't talk THIS time, hence you can all collectively sigh with relief.
2. The Trek, a re-enactment of an 1800s pioneer handcart trek, honoring our religious forebears who literally walked a thousand miles across our country, to find a sanctuary where they could worship freely.  More on this later.
3. Favorite Third Son's college graduation and perhaps a little jaunt through Yellowstone afterwards.
4. "Run Run Ye Saints", a church-sponsored running/walking event that Favorite Daughter and I co-authored and of which I have been in charge since its inception last year.
5. The Hood to Coast, that rip-snortin' all-too-much-fun relay, that y'all will most certainly hear more about in this blog, as it draws closer.
6. Some, as of yet, loosely planned bike rides, hikes, visits with family.
7. A dozen other things that inevitably get thrown in along the way.
8. And, OF COURSE, lots of running!

Memorial Day is also when the calendar is suddenly jacked up in May, and we slide all-too-quickly and before-you-know-it into September.  The pressure is on to pick up the pace so as to not miss a moment.

Ready, set .....