Another Memorial Weekend is in the books – my 73rd and counting. While remembering those we’ve lost – we mourn yet another in Bill Walton, basketball star, personality, and Grateful Dead fan. He was a young 71. My first indirect contact with him was on March 24, 1973, when he scored 17-points in a 70-59 UCLA win over my Indiana Hoosiers. I watched from home after injuring my hand changing a flat tire. It was not a good day. 

Before the announcement of Walton’s passing from cancer, we had already attended the annual Venice Symphony Memorial Day tribute at Cool Today Park. As has been the tradition these past two years, our Indianapolis friend who now lives in Vero Beach has come to visit. It was a beautiful night, capped with fireworks over the stadium. My wife and I have now seen 3-and-a-half of these shows since having moved to Florida. The first year we only count as half since we watched from the parking lot in our convertible without buying a ticket. 

We returned to the house Saturday night after the fireworks to watch the Pacers “choke” in Playoff game one against the Celtics. The Cubs also lost to the Cardinals, the Sox got beat by the Orioles, the Dodgers lost to the Reds, and the Hoosiers eliminated in the BIG tourney. Our friend’s father once played for the Dodgers, so it was not a good sports day for either of us. My wife, who could care less, took the dogs for a walk while the two of us ranted. 

Sunday was race day and we had invited a house full of people to watch. Unfortunately, there was a rain delay, but no one seemed to care with plenty of food and drink to ease the pain. The weather was ideally hot here in Florida, so we had plenty of space to entertain 40-people with tables on the lanai. It was reminiscent of the many times that we had visitors back in Indiana, stuck in our home waiting for the rain to stop and the race to start. The only problem there was that these were overnight guests, and it was sometimes days before the green flag dropped. 

Our party guests on Sunday were mostly all neighborhood acquaintances that retreated to their nearby homes once the afternoon had ended. The race did eventually run in the evening, so there were only the three of us left to watch. It was an exciting finish and our favorite driver, and son of a friend, finished a respectable 10th. The Cubs lost again to the Cardinals, as did the Sox to the Orioles, and the Dodgers to the Reds. 

Holiday Monday finally arrived with more baseball losses and the Walton shocker. Although I never met Bill in person, I’ve certainly followed his career. My Portland friends knew him from the time of his Trailblazers championship, so they were lamenting his passing in our text messages. We enjoyed the day by the resort pool, eating leftovers from the party. I left early to tend to the pups. A Zoom call with Indianapolis friends filled the evening before a final Pacers loss on top of more Cubs and Sox shortcomings. At least, the Dodgers mercifully were rained out against the Mets. They will all try again today, but the Pacers are done for the season.

With a memorable, long weekend behind me, I return to Chair Yoga this morning, followed by another trip to the gym. With my surgery, I have not been to class since January, while the gym these past few weeks has given me some stamina. I could tell how sadly out of shape I am, struggling breathlessly to negotiate all the stadium steps the other night. I obviously have a long way yet to go in recovery. The girls are headed to Boca Grande beach this afternoon after Aqua-Fit class. I’ll be in charge of the dogs. We’ll dine in tonight but tomorrow night will be our friend’s 69th birthday celebration. We’ll then probably do it all again next year for her 70th – just another of many a “Memorable Memorial!”