Following the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, our Little League re-scheduled its Opening Day ceremonies since they had been rained out the first week of the season.  I always push my teams to have a strong turnout as Memorial Day has always been something that was important to me (one might say, duh, it's important to everyone, but the truth is that the turnout is never as strong as it is for the tree lighting or St. Patrick's Day ceremonies).  

Anna and Emily Lawrence, twin sisters and juniors at JFK High School in Bellmore, recently made an important observation. Too many people, and in particular, new drivers are distracted by their cell phones and other devices. This is serious –people get hurt and some die. Some statistics show that eleven teens die every day because of texting and driving.

Given the meaningful blog Fred wrote on Friday as to the history behind Memorial Day, I’m wondering how most of us spend Memorial Day. For my family, it’s always been about inviting some close friends and family over to, hopefully, enjoy the good weather and our pool. We always order too much food (so I don’t have to cook during the following week) and just enjoy our extra day off.

As my sixtieth birthday creeps closer, my mind drifts to thoughts of catastrophic illness and death.  It is not the first time.  I once had a crush on Janice Zloto.  She had a crush on my best friend.  I wanted to die.  But I was only in sixth grade.  

Over the past couple of weeks I have done a totally unscientific study of how the recent long winter has affected businesses.   There's the obvious ones that were/are dramatically affected; Nursery...sales are down compared to last yearPest control company...owner says it's like we're a month behind.Awning company...two months delayed in sales/service calls  

Inasmuch as next Monday is Memorial Day I've done some research concerning earlier thoughts on that day. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was only 20 when the Civil War broke out. He fought in the 20th Massachusetts infantry and was wounded 3 times. Eventually he became a Justice of the United States Supreme Court on which he served until 1932.  

We are privileged to have Jefferson Crowther, his wife Allison, and their family, in our Gotham family. Although there were 34 (mostly-unrelated) people around the table at yesterday’s meeting of Formica and Open House, for me it was a family meal in which one of the family members shared something special -- something very special.

I have spoken before about the "Age Of Empowerment."  Health Food afficionados Burger King recently announced that after 40 culture shaping years,  they are finally retiring their marketing slogan, "Have It Your Way."     It occurred to me that either consciously or subconsciously, this emotional Trojan Horse may have over the course of several decades helped to change our thinking and behavior.