Visions of a 3 day weekend dance in my head

To be honest, out of all the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries, Memorial Weekend is the toughest to get through since Mike died. We always anticipated the long weekend. We would sit on Friday night plotting our weekend. Saturday morning at 8am we would usually go to Paulino Gardens and I would buy all the flowers to plant for the summer; I would spend part of the weekend gardening. Maybe we would do some yard work, or complete a house project. Definitely go to a movie. Grill some salmon, take a long walk with the dogs. Mike was always in need of that extra day with the stress of his job, and I was in need of that extra day just to revel in him and me together.

This year I was determined to have some fun. The boys and I drove to Fort Collins on Saturday for a BBQ at a friend's house. We stayed in a pet friendly hotel and that actually worked out okay. But I was feeling a bit under the weather, thinking though that the sneezing and coughing were due to allergies. Sunday I walked to the Gaylord Street fair to meet the family for some dinner and to listened to the Billy McKay Band from Leftover Salmon(my uncle Bill McKay just passed away and we thought this would be a neat thing to do). I was still feeling under the weather but anticipating a BBQ and Bocce Ball today at mom and dad's. Well, I woke up with a full fledged virus, cold or something-coughing, sneezing, my chest burning, a tad achey and foggy. I had to call mom and tell her I wouldn't be at the BBQ-that I needed to rest and eat chicken soup. What a disappointment.

I do have one condolence to forfeiting the fun I hoped to have during this kickoff weekend to the summer...I am off for the summer. I don't have to think about a 3 day weekend, I have weeks on end to enjoy my time. Maybe I will start getting used to planning days and weekends alone, as I sometimes still feel like I need Mike to help plan days off. But until then, I sit with glasses of Emergen-c, People and Oprah magazines, and bowls of chicken soup, to re-energize myself and revel in some much needed down time.