Longing for Ice Cream Cones
Ice cream cones. Summer evenings watching the sunset over the lake. Long warm days filled with sunshine. It’s the middle of May and even if there has been a chill in the air my mind is thinking about Memorial Day weekend.
Often when I begin writing I look back through the archives to read other columns I have written. The one that stopped me was the column published in 2019. Remember this was the summer before COVID, before masks, travel restrictions, the war in Ukraine, before rising inflation and high interest rates.
On Memorial Day weekend I am often reminded of the aria composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by DuBose Heyward, for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess …
One of these mornings you’re going to rise singing
And you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take to the sky …
Summertime and the living are easy…
What a pleasure to spend Monday morning cleaning the grill and enjoying the first hamburger of the season, surrounded by friends and family. To savor a rhubarb pie made from the rhubarb plant in the garden, topped with vanilla ice cream. To begin to feel the new sense of time that comes with summer. Days that languish into the evening. Mornings that begin much earlier.
I wrote about visiting the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. The cemetery is just a short ride from downtown Manilla, covers 152 acres and is located on a prominent plateau, visible from the east, south and west. There are a total of 17,206 white crosses that stand out against the green grass, the largest number of graves of any cemetery for American personnel killed during World War II. The cemetery also holds war dead from the Philippines and other allied nations. It is difficult to take it all in.
Now my mind shifts. To the people who have been forced out of Ukraine. To the over one million people in the United States who have died of COVID. To the vast divide in our Country. Sobering to take it all in.
It isn’t just on Memorial Day we think of the men and the women who have lost their lives defending our way of life. It isn’t just on Veteran’s Day that we thank and think of the men and women who have served in dangerous places across the globe to ultimately transform our world into a more peaceful place. Most Americans are grateful every day for those people who have defended our way of life. Now we add to this list essential workers, doctors, and medical workers.
Life is almost back to normal. We can gather again. We can travel. We can stand around the grill with our family and friends. We really can spread our wings and soar.
Today, I’m thinking about the first ice-cream cone and what flavor I’ll chose. Pistachio or chocolate? It’s a toss-up.
Elizabeth Howard is the host of the Short Fuse podcast found on