Different Memorial Day
NOTE - my IPad is still misbehaving, please excuse the typography issues.
Memorial Day weekend is here. The weather has been cool, now it’s warming up. Normally the Lost Colony would be opening. My church would host 700-900 young single adults in an annual event bringing young people from all over the nation here on the Outer Banks. The season would be officially opened here and income opportunities would begin to abound for a few months.
I grew up splitting time between here and Charlotte. While in Charlotte racing was a family business. The Jarrettts are family and so are the Allisons. I can vividly remember the young men coming in for huge Sunday afternoon suppers after they had done some racing event. My Grandparents are buried next to Ned Jarretts parents. The last time I saw him was at one of my Grandmothers funerals. I also hung out with Elmo Langley who was a good friend of my Moms. One Uncle, who had dipped a little into NASCAR racing, would rent a huge U-Haul, load all of us cousins up, park it in the paddock and we would hang out all day for the big Memorial Day race in Charlotte.
When Mom met Pop I was 19. The company he worked for was one of the major sponsors and so we had REALLY good seats every year. We would go to the time trials and the minor races all before the main event. Mom and Pop’s ‘little’ house was about two Miles from the Speedway.
It is sad that we haven’t hosted the cast and Crew for The Lost Colony. There are other events that have been happening for decades. A locals meet and greet covered dish - I posted recently about this when I told the story of Mom’s strawberry cake. As a child when we would go to this covered dish get-together I looked forward to strawberry cake. Somehow I didn’t know until about a year ago that it was Mom who was making it. I just knew we only had it once a year. The strawberries came from Aunt Isabel’s patch and they were awesome, juicy, delicious. Being alumni of the show we would also enjoy a lot of interaction with the current cast and Crew, and often Chip in where we could when there was a need. Waterside Theatre has not been dark since WWII. It seats around 1,500 people and there really was no choice about cancelling this season. With the social distancing parameters, the remote finishing of college for these young people, and not being able to house them in the dormatories safely were all a factor. It had to be done. 2021 will show a Return and be better than ever.
Also, I usually would soon get a visit from my Daughter and maybe even my Grandaughter and Son-inlaw. I’ve asked her to wait a few weeks to give us some more time to see how this thing will spread with reopening. I’m severely immunosurpressed and so am among the group that our State and County have encouraged to stay in and away from people. In a way this reopening is great, it means that I can go to my usual private spots and everyone else will be at work or over at the Ocean. but I have no problem asking folks to stay 6-10’ away and having a mask at the ready. I’m looking forward to riding my Bike again. We have a Bike Trail close by my house and it is a balm to my soul.
Meanwhile I also remember when Jaws came out. It was about a small Seaside town that expected an onslaught of visitors for the Memorial Day opening to the season. The big shark was attacking people and things got bad quickly. Silly teenagers that we were, we really had to think twice about going into the Water that year.
So we have had an interuption to our ‘normal’ lives. We likly will see fallout from this extremely contagious virus for another Ten months or so. I applaud folks for following the stay at home orders. The numbers do not show the whole story. It is a fact that with less than 10% of the population being tested we don’t have enough data. There is no doubt in my mind that many personal friends of mine had it. I know for a fact they were denied tests because they hadn’t been to China or they couldn’t trace a contact with an infected person. The overwhelming vast majority get over it and move on. We don’t know how our immunity might generate Protection yet. The pause has hopefully allowed our Healthcare system to catch up with modalities, ventilators, PPE, and SOP.
Some of you don’t know and have not had an occassion to notice that all of this is just a hyper-vigilant behaivor pattern to what Auto-immune patients do all the time. For the next year or so I will be continuing measures to stay well.
I had plans for this summer which got cancelled. I no longer have a retail space and I can’t offer Public workshops for My Intent like I wanted to. It’s OK. 2021 will be here soon enough, and I personally think it will be a boom for us. I have a thriving website and this has been the direction that deep down I knew was the right way for me. I have quite the daunting task of getting things up from the first level and organized and stored for next year. I can’t really have help right now because it’s stuff I need to do so that I know where my stock is. Look for specials on goods before I put them on the online store.
AmeriCANS have proven over and over again that we are strong together and United we stand. I’m hoping to return to more positivity as I launch digital opportunities that I’ve been working on for months. We are all not going to agree. Once thing is for sure though, our daily lives have changed. The way we educate our children and young adults has changed. The Earth has had a wonderful time of Healing and regeneration. I’ve never seen LA’s Water so Blue. Within a few weeks of the shutdown. smog lessoned and I understand it’s nearly Non-existant. Things will be OK and we have to do what we can to protect the at risk population many of whom are elders whose wisdom is vital for the next generation.
I love all of you. Stay healthy and be safe.
Phronjia
