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.