Not a Holiday

ATTENTION: This was not a holiday weekend. Your confusion is understandable, but I assure you no holidays were celebrated in the past 48 hours. Not here, at least. Yes, yes, I know the weather was glorious and you are now just a bit tanner than you were on Friday. And I can see how you might think libations = occasions, which they do, but sometimes it's just someone's birthday, not a matter of national observation.

And what of the leisure walks you took, both alone and with friends? While Holstein Park was filled with sunbathing 20-somethings and Logan Square teemed with bikes, strollers, dogs, and market shoppers, neither signified a holiday in progress; those gatherings were merely a weekend doing its thing.

The return to Slippery Slope, the visit to a friend's art show, finishing that book, trying out a new recipe...these activities weren't special because of any holiday they commemorated. They stood--stand--on their own as markers of a full and adventurous life.

It was May and now it's June--that's not a holiday either. That's the flipping of the calendar, the turning of the earth, and time stubbornly marching on.

This was only a weekend, only the beginning of the summer, and only a small sample of what the next few months have in store.

And if you need any more convincing: the Blackhawks lost Game 7 last night. Definitely not a holiday.