Memorial Day

Tuesday and Wednesday, the Blue Angels awe us with fearless acrobatics, then streak into the wild blue yonder, our imaginations trailing.
    Friday, the midshipmen of the U.S. Naval Academy class of 2014 receive their commissions.
    Monday completes the cycle.
    All the warriors we honor on Memorial Day were once young as those midshipmen, younger even, entrusting themselves to a future beyond their imagining.
    They were as confident as those Angels, prepared to soar beyond ordinary mortals.
    Then came the doing. In war and in peace, each man devoted himself, each woman herself, to a cause larger than the making of an individual life. In that service, many gave their lives or lost who they had been in limbs and peace of mind.
    On Memorial Day, as we honor the legions of dead warriors, their stories want to rise from the graves and columbariums to the ears of the living. It’s their quiet call that takes us to the cemeteries, to the memorial spaces and ceremonies. We make these journeys on the last Monday in May, when flowers — peonies, iris, spirea — are blooming. Decoration Day, the old name of a commemoration begun after the Civil War, filled cemeteries with flowers and witnesses, and the stories rose from all the graves, visited and lonely.
    Speaking the names of the dead warriors, recalling their stories, is a duty veterans hold sacred. Speaking for them in this Memorial Day issue of Bay Weekly is … Korean War veteran Bill Alli, of Bowie, whose book, Too Young for a Forgettable War, we recommend to you in The Reader. As well as Barb Robbins, Sara Russell and Donna Kurrle, interviewed at the Maryland World War II Memorial on the Severn River.

… And Celebration
    The only certain lesson taught by the dead is the fullness of life. Thus the flip side of Memorial Day is our celebration of summer’s beginning.
    You’ll step out of this Bay Weekly into the season.
    Start with These Shining Lives, Colonial Players’ memorial play to, writes Bay Weekly reviewer Jane Elkin, “remind us that precious time is ticking and we should never take a moment of our shining lives for granted.”
    Next? Chesapeake Country is your oyster.    
    Planning a visit to Eastern Shore? Ocean bound? You’ll be among 333,000 travelers in crossing the Bay Bridge. If that figure doesn’t deter you, neither should gephyrophobia. Folks who, like me, are afraid to make that crossing behind the wheel of their own car will find relief (and transportation) in Josh Powell’s story on the Kent Island Shuttle Service.
    If your Memorial Day and summer plans have you getting onto the water rather than over it, we remind you of another timely seasonal commemoration: Safe Boating Week. Bob Melamud’s story will guide you to your own safe boating season.
    Every summer taste will find its satisfaction in the 2014 Summer Fun Guide, Bay Weekly’s annual supplement tucked into this week’s paper. In its 44 pages, you’ll find ways to celebrate the 101 days of summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
    To make the most of summer 2014, keep this guide by your side. Do not recycle until September 2.

How Do You Have Summer Fun?
    Here at Bay Weekly, we know a lot of ways to have summer fun. What we don’t know is your favorite summer adventure. Do tell!
    I’m seeking stories for our upcoming issue, Making the Best of Summer in Chesapeake Country. Send me your stories (up to 250 words) and pictures of adventures good, great, calamitous and redeemed: [email protected], subject line Summer Adventures, please.

Plus Two Last Words
    In a broader memorial sense, we say two farewells in 2014’s Memorial Day paper. Puzzler Ben Tausig alerts us to his departure. Puzzles this week through June 26 play out his long good-bye.
    We also salute Dignity Players, which ended its nine-year run as the Theatre for Change on May 17, with the closing of The 39 Steps. Memorably honoring the company for its achievement is Bay Weekly theater reviewer Jim Reiter, who directed the curtain closer.

Sandra Olivetti Martin
Editor and publisher; [email protected]