The sky when I opened my eyes and looked up through the window was bright clear blue as was my mood. I always think about my mother on Memorial Weekend, how she looked forward to the first weekend of summer, opening her cottage in New Hampshire on Laurel Lake with her sisters and brothers, and how we would often join her when our kids were young. Then, when we owned our own cottage, how we too would hitch Frank’s ski boat to the trailer and head off with my brothers and sisters, all the cousins, for a weekend of campfires and waterskiing and swimming, and my mother cooking huge meals for all of us to eat at her picnic table under the pines. And the mosquito swarming hikes we would take to the quarry in the late afternoons with all the complaining kids. Happy times, of course. Today I met this mosquito eating friend on the muddy trail by the brook – his quick leap caught my attention. I went straight to the meadow to see what is new among the wildflowers and Suzi stood happily in the grass soaking up the sunshine. To celebrate the long weekend and Frank feeling better we invited all the kids and partners out to dinner, and all except my son’s fiance were able to join us. Much of our family talk now is dominated by the fall wedding we’ll host at our home. The bride to be lets her younger sister, her maid of honor, lead the way with her artistic vision. The colors have been chosen. The groom to be is also accepting advice, guidance, and wisdom about what his groomsmen shall wear. I drove Frank into a doctor’s appointment in Brookline and while eating my sandwich on an outdoor table, I think I found some of the musicians we’ll hire for the wedding, playing for free on a breezy sunny lunch hour in the city.