day 250 - the first Friday's Eve in September

 Today is the 5th day of the 36th week, the 7th day of the 9th month, the 250th day of 2023, and:

• Google Commemoration Day - while the domain name was registered on the 15th, it was on this day in 1998 that their offices actually opened up
• Grandma Moses Day - on her birthday 163 years ago
• Independence Day - Brazil from Portugal in 1822
• International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies
• National Acorn Squash Day
• National Attention Deficit Disorder Awareness Day
• National Beer Lover's Day
• National Feel the Love Day
• National Grateful Patient Day
• National Neither Snow nor Rain Day - the day in 1914 the NY Post Office opened with that the famous motto inscribed over the opening  
• Salami Day
• Superhuman Day

Quote of the day:

"There are jobs, there are chores, and there is work."

~ Donald Hall, Life Work

Everyday I get an email called "Only in Maryland".  I usually just scroll through the articles, glancing at them, then decide whether or not I want to post the picture of the day in Facebook.  Now and then an article catches my attention, and I read it.  Today was unusual because two places were mentioned that I have a strong personal connection with.

The first one was a local lake/park in Columbia   This was only a few minutes away from the bank I was working at and at lunch time, I used to head out there and stroll around the lake, usually seething with some change-related issue and needing to calm down.  Now and then, I would leave my Randallstown apartment early enough that I would walk it first thing in the morning, smelling the woods and listening to the small sounds around me, marveling that I was so close to the highways and byways that would take me back to the daily grind.  It felt so isolated and I loved being there and always left feeling refreshed. 

The second one was Ladew Topiary Gardens.  This was a bit of a drive, but Frank loved that place, with the little cafe where you could sit and nibble and relax.  We only went through the mansion once, but we would spend hours just wandering the pathways, chatting.  I remember one set of topiary was actually a fox hunt, strewn across the meadow, complete with horses and riders and fox!  They used to have special programs at different times, and we took my mother there more than once for Mother's Day.  The last time I was there, my daughter took both my mother and I as a special treat for another Mother's Day, and I have a treasured picture of the three generations standing on one of the little bridges together smiling brightly.

Were those days better than the days today?  Not really, it was just the way we were.  I do vividly remember the angst and struggles of those days.  It puts me in mind of a conversation I had once with Grandmom Hughes that upset her badly, and she would bring back up now and then.  The question had come up of whether or not we would live our lives over - Grandmom was more than willing to go back through it again [and there were considerable hardships in her life as she had been orphaned by the flu of 1918 and lived thru the Depression] while I adamantly refused the thought of going back.  Now, almost six decades later, I understand why she would be willing to return, but I still am not.  No thank you, as sweet as some of the memories are, as much as I miss those who are gone, I don't want to go back and have to make all those choices again and again.  As the song says, "today is my moment and now is my story"  and I am content that it be so.  

It makes me a little sad and even frightened that some day, when I am out of todays,  I will be naught but a memory that is forgotten.  For some people, their work is their monument, but for those of us in servicing, when we are gone, someone else just takes up the chores and does the job.