I have often thought about cutting the summer months in half, like a plane running through the equator yielding two perfect hemispheres. Memorial Day represents the beginning of summer, Labor Day the end and the Fourth of July stands as a midway point.

It seems that holidays are a key way we mark time.

Ah, how I have missed holidays during our year of COVID in the United States. I recognize that the virus is still leaving a wake of suffering all over the world, but it feels like some things are turning around.

I know that in the past year, I have lived through December 25th,  February 14th, October 31st and countless birthdays, and yet it has felt like all these days were the same as the day before and day after.

I spent most of my time at home. Alone. I reflected on my good fortune, that I had a safe place to live and enough to eat, that I did not become sick.

No day seemed special. My routine didn’t change. I didn’t think of Sunday, or any day for that matter, as being about getting off work, resting, or indulging in a personal pleasure.

I imagine I was not alone.

It seemed that 2020 was a year without holidays. Traveling was out of the question. My Christmas dinner involved a meal at my sister’s with her husband, just the three of us.

I guess “holiday,” has associations with the term “holy day.” Certainly, the spiritual significance of an event’s anniversary may provide a good reason to celebrate, but the key characteristic of a “holiday” is its treatment as being special. Religious significance is not required.

“Holiday” generally means a day that is free from work, a day when daily routines are suspended.

People have very different ideas about how they’d want to spend their FREE day. Some look forward to a family barbecue or ball game or a shopping adventure or day at a beach.

Holidays offer an extra level of downtime a weekend cannot approximate. Over the course of a holiday, we’re not just invited to rest from our workweek. We’re encouraged to do something just for ourselves. There’s something so liberating about this.

I thrive on some level of daily structure. I enjoy morning stretches and walks with my dog.  But I also need to have something to look forward to.

It’s odd that my first feeling of returning to normal after COVID has hit me this week, as we celebrated Memorial Day.

This day of observing the sacrifice of many in service to a greater good seems only more significant to me as I thought about the many lives lost during the pandemic.

I could engage in a debate with myself over whether these losses were inevitable. So many politicians, many people in general, became fixated on finding someone to blame for the virus and didn’t give enough attention to addressing the problem. But I realize that doing this would be just another example of the blame game.

For right now, I want to say “Thank you, Mr. Biden,” for planning how to deal with the COVID mess BEFORE you had the job.

I want to thank everyone who got vaccinated because it had the predicted effect of getting public health stats trending in the right direction, for saving lives and sparing so many from suffering.

Thank you for bringing back holidays!

I hope anti-vaxxers that enjoyed the holiday weekend also thank thoughtful and competent government. I hope they come to understand that not getting vaccinated is not about affirming their personal freedom. It’s about denying others the right to theirs.

Getting vaccinated is about public health and safety. Why would anyone not care about the lives of their neighbors?

Thinking about EVERYONE enjoying a holiday is no small thing.