A different Memorial Day

This past weekend we celebrated Memorial Day and it was a little different than most since I spent from late Friday morning until late Monday afternoon by myself.

My wife, Pat, went with some women on a short trip that had been previously planned for last fall but an illness in the family of a couple of those women forced it to be postponed.

It’s not necessarily the kind of Memorial Day weekend I looked forward to because I would rather spend it with my wife and family members. But such as it was, I made the most of it and tried to get some things done.

I spent several hours one of the days working on stories for the edition of the paper you are reading today.

On Friday, I took a little time from work and drove to Oklahoma City to Fairlawn and Resurrection cemeteries to decorate eight graves, all of which are family members.

Since it was only me and I didn’t have Pat along to help, it took a little longer. That was all right, though, because I wasn’t on any specific timeline.

Friday was a good day to decorate. The cemeteries weren’t crowded at all, although there were some people at Fairlawn and quite a few at Resurrection.

When I got back midafternoon, I finished up some work.

What I really missed after I got back and throughout the weekend was little Bailey girl, our little Shih Tzu we had to have put to sleep recently, that I wrote about two weeks ago. She was such a special companion and so much a part of our family.

This was the first time in almost 11 years that Pat had taken some type of trip that I didn’t have Bailey around.

On Saturday, I spent most of the time cleaning out, throwing stuff away and straightening up the garage.

That’s not to say I’m finished.

After going to church Saturday evening, I just came home and relaxed.

Sunday morning until early that afternoon I did some more work on stories and after lunch, I spent some time in the garage.

That evening I relaxed and enjoyed a long phone conversation with our daughter Meghan.

Monday was a work day for me finishing up things for the paper so when Pat got back late that afternoon I could spend time with her.

I knew if I kept myself busy while Pat was gone the time would seem to go much faster and that I could get quite a bit done.

I was right. Mission accomplished.