This weekend, this part of the year, is full of sweet memories that keep reproducing themselves. Easter 1978 was the beginning of our life together that started in Beirut. The notion of Easter and New Beginnings is not a cliché for us. It was a time of painful endings and hesitant new beginnings, feeling our way into a new chapter that turned out to be very long.
We are celebrating all that in the best possible way this weekend. Yesterday was a day that stretched on and on to accommodate all that we wanted it to hold: a quiet morning curled up on the couch in front of a fire with a wonderful history book, The Peabody Sisters. Phonecalls with my sister and my niece who is in the hospital in Leiden.
We played with the puppy outside on that wonderful spring day; breaking the twigs off the fallen tree for fire starters; raking and uncovering the new sprouts, and having a lunch en plein air.
And although I hesitated a moment about joining everyone on a bike ride to the beach, I am glad that my sanity kicked in and I postponed the work to be done till later.
We walked on Singing Beach as dog owners, a very different experience than walking there dog less (actually, we don’t walk there at all even though it is minutes away from our house). You discover that there is much socializing but it is done on dog terms (we play, you stay). There is a battle brewing in town between dog owners and those who abhor the messiness of dogs and want to close the beach forever to these creatures, all year round.
And then there was still time for more play outside with the puppy, throwing and fetching sticks and balls. Sita and Tessa invited friends over for a taco meal. Roy went on a shopping expedition and cooked assisted by Tessa, Steve and Axel while Sita kept the puppy busy and I got to finish the work I had to do before Monday. And still there was time. Sean, whose family owns a bakery on Western Massachusetts, arrived with a huge Easter loaf. We crowded down around the table and gorged ourselves on tacos with all the fixings.
And still there was time for playing cards, making deserts and Irish coffee and meeting one of the Roller Derbie stars, Maura Buse, whose real name is Ellie, Fred’s girl friend.
And then there was still time for reading and going to bed at a decent hour. What a day!
Sylvia's Journal 
Dear Sylvia,
Congratulations on your inspirational journal.
I’m just writing to make a plea to you on behalf of everyone who enjoys Singing Beach to please vote against the unneighborly proposal that would extend the existing five-month dog ban at Singing Beach year round.
A year-round dog ban is unneighborly because it would prevent many people–including town residents–from ever enjoying Singing Beach.
Many families, like mine, only visit the beach during the off-season when we can bring our dogs with us. My family–my husband, Marshall, our one-year-old daughter, Kate, our standard poodle, Strummer, and I–love to visit Singing Beach between October and April, when we can all be together.
Please vote against Warrant Article #30 at Town Meeting, Monday, April 7 at 6:45 p.m. at Manchester Memorial School.
With appreciation and a playbow to Chicha from Strummer,
Michele
Somerville, MA