There's more to Memorial Day than the start of summer

VANCEBORO — For many people, the spaces on the calendar dedicated to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from May to September is already half-filled in ink for everything from family reunions to trips to camp and time set aside for home repairs and housework. Summer just seems to never start early enough and never go long enough to get everything in you want to do.
All this, of course, begins with Memorial Weekend. Dubbed the unofficial start to summer, Memorial Weekend has turned into a time for families and friends to go to camp with filled coolers, the boat and the grill, because it just doesn’t feel like summer until you fire the grill up.
My friends and I kicked off summer this past weekend at a family camp in Vanceboro. The camp overlooks Spendik Lake, and from across the lake you see the tall timbers of New Brunswick. We all enjoyed steaks and corn on the cob straight off the grill, a campfire on the beach and a five-mile canoe trip down the St. Croix River — my first-ever canoe trip, and one that I am glad to report did not end up with me spilling out of the canoe.
While it was all a lot of fun, the weekend is supposed to be our time as a nation to remember those who have fallen in battle to serve and protect this country. That’s what this past Monday is supposed to be all about.
It was a point lost on me until we made the two-hour drive home on Monday morning. The Jeep radio was set to a country radio station playing a tribute to our fallen soldiers. Radio host Kix Brooks from the country band Brooks and Dunn talked to other country stars about their music, to different military personnel about losses they have faced and played a wide variety of patriotic-themed country songs.
As a rendition of “God Bless America” sung by country star LeAnn Rimes came in over the radio, I stared through the bug-splattered windshield at the numerous American flags that hung from telephone poles along Route 6 and thought to myself, “Oops.”
Summers are so busy the way it is, especially since we are a nation of workers that takes very little time off. So when our businesses observe the Monday of Memorial Day as a national holiday and close up shop, we all take advantage of it and try to get as much done as possible. That means camping, housework or just relaxing at the house.
That being said, Memorial Day is still a time when we need to honor those that have died in battle while serving this country. They have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect this nation. Without those men and women, our nation wouldn’t be where it is today — like giving us a three-day weekend at the end of May as a way to kick off summer.