Memorial Day couldn’t be more welcome this year. After a long, snowy winter, reaching the holiday that signals the impending arrival of warm summer months feels like an achievement. No one will feel guilty taking an extra day off this weekend. We’ve earned it.

Knowing that, for a few months at least, we can look forward to longer and warmer days, some of us might not even mind as tourists begin to fill our roadways on their way to the many summer destinations Maine has to offer.

An annual rite of spring, Memorial Day is a time to gather with friends, family and communities, but more importantly it’s a time to remember those who have served and died in wars.

As we relax this weekend away from work, perhaps at a neighborhood barbecue, it will be easy to forget that thousands of men and women are stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan and won’t get to spend the holiday with friends or family. It will be easy to forget that thousands have died.

With violence continuing in Iraq and American military personnel in harm’s way, it’s more important now than ever to recognize the sacrifices people are making and have made in prior wars. Regardless of one’s feelings on the war in Iraq, it’s important to do something on Memorial Day to honor those who have given their lives for us.

There will be several opportunities to mark Memorial Day Monday:

• In Westbrook, events will begin with a ceremony for deceased veterans at 8 a.m. at Veterans’ Circle at Woodlawn Cemetery on Stroudwater Street, which will be followed by a ceremony at the grave of Stephen W. Manchester, the namesake of the American Legion Post No. 62.

A parade will begin at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Longfellow Street and New Gorham Road and end at Riverbank Park. The parade will be followed by a ceremony at Riverbank Park, where a roll call of deceased residents will be read.

• In Gorham, two parades will mark the holiday, with the first beginning at 9 a.m. at the South Windham Fire Station on Gray Road. The parade will pause at the bridge to toss a wreath into the Presumpscot River and continue to Hillside Cemetery for a ceremony.

The second parade will begin forming at 10 a.m. on Lincoln Street near the Village School. Marching will begin at 11 a.m. and continue to South Street for a wreath laying at Phinney Park. The parade will continue on to Main Street and the Eastern Cemetery for a ceremony.

Brendan Moran, editor