Memorial Day Guarantee

When a potato chip is folded over, do you call it a Wish Chip? I bit into a Wish Chip today and I couldn't think of a thing to wish for that I didn't already have. Being at Lagoon on "Lagoon Day," known to the rest of the country as Memorial Day, makes life pretty perfect. As far as perfect goes, this Lagoon Day was maybe one of the best! The weather was perfect, the food was plentiful, the kids were happy, and everyone was there. Zeljko and Jenn and their boys even came from Pocatello. Zeljko's first experience in this country was Lagoon Day, the day after her arrived here to stay with us from war-torn Yugoslavia. Major culture shock! In the eleven intervening years, he has become family, as have Jenn and the boys.

We arrived at Lagoon this morning well before the gates opened and reluctantly exited when it closed among the last hangers-on. Grandma has been going to Lagoon on Memorial Day since she was a little girl. Golda wistfully said tonight that Lagoon Day has changed since she was little. She said it used to be three little girls, Golda, Ruby and Lexie, with their hair done cute and matching outfits. Now it's 20 cousins, fear of rides and a term paper to do when she got home. I told her to imagine what changes Grandma has seen during all the years she has been celebrating this tradition. Through childhood, her teen-age years, marriage, raising kids away from home and driving hours to get to Lagoon, bringing her grown children and their families into the fold, and riding rides with grandchildren. Lagoon Day will change for Golda as she gets older. Sometimes life will close in on you and it will be all you can do to push it away and make room for a day off at Lagoon. But you will make room, because it's a family tradition. You may be too old for matching outfits, but you'll go to Lagoon. And waiting for you when you get there will be Chocolate Chews, Frog Eye Salad, a cooler full of drinks that aren't yours, but that you can have anyway, and people who love you. That's a guarantee. Grandma and Grandpa, thank-you for a safe haven that comes with roller coasters and ice cream. We love you so much!