Easter Monday is not a holiday

Easter Monday, which used to be a state holiday, arrives cool and cloud-masked after a glorious but slightly chilly Easter Sunday. At sunrise service, worshippers huddled and shivered in the faint light with a quarter moon gliding toward the western horizon. I wondered at the church organist's ability to keep her frigid fingers flexed and nimble on the electric keyboard that had been hauled outside for the service.

After a hearty breakfast in the church fellowship hall, my wife and I went home to read the paper and enjoy more coffee. Another joyful church service at 11 punctuated a day of quiet, sleepy reading, a brisk walk and gardening in the yard, where flowers and weeds are both springing to life. And, oh yes, I clicked on the television to see who won the Masters golf tournament, remembering that a year ago the final round of the Masters was the last time our television was turned on for nearly two months. Just nothing worth watching or other things to do.

Although Monday is no longer a state holiday, the city of Wilson has canceled garbage pickup, and many workers can't get used to the idea of a Friday holiday instead of a Monday holiday. Since the 1960s, most federal holidays, including President's Day, Memorial Day and Martin Luther King Holiday, fall on Mondays, giving federal workers a much-desired three-day weekend. But now Good Friday, which is not a federal holiday, is a state holiday.

Although I am neither trudging off to work nor savoring a three-day weekend on this Monday, I do have a long to-do list, including a job application to complete, some volunteer work for a nonprofit organization, errands to run and preparations to make. It's a Monday like most Mondays these past six months.