There are many Memorial Day weekend traditions that people enjoy. Most of them tend to involve barbecues and beaches, bathing suits and sunbathing. Few take the time to truly appreciate the meaning of the holiday itself.

I’m always looking for signs. Except when I’m not, which makes them all the more poignant and undeniable.

I remember the day like it was yesterday… which is fairly impressive, considering it was actually 17 years ago, to the day in fact. This momentous occasion of which I speak, on March 8th, 2000, was the date I was told by our high school principal that I was, in fact, “officially” the valedictorian of our senior class. 

There are those who need to have every detail of each day planned down to the last minute, with little room for even the slightest compromise or delay. And then there are those individuals who prefer to fly by the seat of their pants; no blueprint, no nothing, open to whatever adventures might beckon.