This long Memorial Day weekend found America in a state of peace. The Summer of 2011 began on a promising note throughout New England and across the Greater Boston region, where weather conditions finally cooperated fully and beautifully. Tens of thousands ventured to local beaches and neighborhood streets, gathering for cookouts, family visits and several days of pleasant warmth, clear skies and relaxation. Memorial Day is meant to unfold precisely this way, with summer stretching ahead. For those of us still savoring every moment outdoors after winter’s bitter cold, ice and snow have been pushed aside for at least the next five months, this is genuinely a joyful season.
Here we stand at the threshold of the Summer of 2011. What lies before us during these coming months remains unknowable until they have already concluded. This uncertainty is part of summer’s appeal. Mystery surrounds the season before it officially arrives. Who will discover romance? Who will achieve something remarkable? Who will take their family across the Atlantic? Who will finish several novels while relaxing along the shore? Who will dive into wild waves and warm water? Who will travel to Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket, to Gloucester’s rocky coastline, to the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire? Which song will become the defining anthem of the Summer of 2011? What special or peculiar film will draw us into a cool theater? How many will attend college commencements for children who are now adults, stepping into America’s complexity and confusion? How many more will witness high school graduations? Who will find themselves transformed by the season? For numerous local residents over this weekend, the customary practice involved visiting Woodlawn or Glenwood Cemeteries to leave flowers and reflect at the graves of those who died serving the nation. Adding to the remarkable timing as summer begins, the Boston Bruins have reached the Stanley Cup finals. The series starts in Vancouver Wednesday night. The Bruins have not won the Stanley Cup in 39 years, not since the era of the legendary Bobby Orr. For those who remember that championship, the upcoming finals represent a chance to reclaim the past, to touch again the glory and splendor the Bruins once embodied. Our hopes go with them.