I apologize for this blog being late. The good news is that based on the number of visits, not too many people missed this one. I’m glad that I am not offending my audience.
I had intended for this blog to be posted last Sunday, Mother’s Day. The good news was that for the first weekend in several months, we were actually busy. My son and his girlfriend spent part of the weekend with us to celebrate the holiday. It was good to have them both back in the house.
Due to the virus-imposed travel restrictions, this was the first Mother’s Day in twenty years that we have not spent in Cape May, New Jersey. With my Mom and my mother-in-law living a day’s drive away, my son and I have shown our appreciation for all my wife’s efforts by treating her to a day at the Cape (insiders know it as Exit 0).
The day’s agenda has changed very little from its inception. Although our son no longer braves the 55 degree Atlantic waters for the first swim of the season, and there is no longer space in the bandstand park to throw a baseball, I can predict the itinerary. My son and I will try to wait patiently on a bench as my wife checks out every store on the Washington Street mall. Our reward for behaving ourselves will be a frozen custard from Kohr’s. If we allowed ourselves sufficient time before dinner, there will be Skee-ball at the boardwalk arcade. Our son introduced the practice of handing over all of our reward tickets to some unsuspecting child. The expression of surprise on their face is worth every token. If there is time after dinner, we will close the day with a quick stop at Sunset Beach. We are always amazed that someone had the genius idea to make a ship out of concrete.
We have grown to savor this annual trip. My son claims it is his favorite day of the year. All in all, not a bad choice. We have buoyant boat loads of fond memories from this annual tradition. Even though we were able to include a few little pieces of Cape May into this year’s celebration, and my wife was very appreciative of our efforts, we still couldn’t hide that some of the “special sauce” was missing.
I think that traditions are much like the markings on the face of a clock. Although the hands continuously cycle through that 360° arc, we really only notice when they pass one of the numerals. We pay no attention to let’s say 5:57. However the mass of neurons in our heads alerts us that something significant must be taking place at 6:00. The numerals, like traditions, keep us in sync.
These days it is easy to forget the day of the week. It is even harder to remember if anything significant, other than the suffering caused by this insidious invader, has actually occurred in the almost three months since we sought shelter. This is a reminder of the importance of our traditions. These are not simply days to be casually torn from our calendars in anticipation of a resumption to our “normal lives”. We must not abandon our traditions as there are still moments to celebrate and opportunities to create new, cherished memories.
I guarantee that if it is safe next Mother’s Day, you will find my son and I on a bench, eating an orange/vanilla twist cone, as my wife asks to pull just about every piece out of the Whales Tale jewelry case. That will be okay with us.
