What happens when your 7-year old catches you stuffing eggs and Easter baskets at 10 pm the night before Easter? You discuss how the important part of Easter is not about candy and baskets, but about how Jesus died on the cross for us and rose again! And, you make up a really good story...we recycle the eggs for the Easter bunny so we don't add to the plastic in the landfills, you "prepare" the baskets so they are easier for him to stuff, etc Not very good stories, and really not even believeable, but hey, we couldn't think of what to say when caught in the act! This 7 year old also "noticed" that the things she saw the night before weren't in the baskets in the morning (we told her she must have been half-asleep and just imagined those things). We didn't use them to throw her off track (I think it worked).We had a really lovely Easter weekend. We went to Good Friday mass, decorated eggs on Saturday, had our egg hunt Sunday morning, went to Easter mass on Sunday noon, and had a yummy Easter dinner with our family. I am really proud of my kids...they each gave up something important to them for lent and really, really sacrificed it the whole Lenten period (well almost). There were many moments that they wanted to give in, but we talked about what sacrifices Jesus made for us and how if it were easy, it wouldn't be a sacrifice at all. I will say, CJ is the one who "changed his mind" half way through. I couldn't force him to stay on course, but I think he learned his lesson because we praised the girls so much for really sticking to their sacrifices. So, Sunday was filled with lots of ice cream, candy, soda and gum (those were the things they gave up).
Of course, what did I think of most of the time...my lovely mom. Yet another "first" that I had to go through without her. She loved decorating eggs with the kids, watching them hunt for their eggs, and always gave them a special little something for the day. I remember her smile while she watched them color eggs and get color all over everything. And, her laughter when they dropped one and it cracked.
I also passed another "10th". I really dislike the 10th of every month...Mom died on the 10th and every time a 10th of the month passes I think how I'm further away from having seen her. Sounds strange, I know...I was told that grief goes in waves...low lows and then you feel better and then the lows don't get so low the next time around...many of my days are better, but when they are bad, they still are really bad. And, I know why it takes a year to really start feeling better...because you have to go through everything for the first time without the person you love...I wish I could just speed through the next 9 months so that I will be through all my firsts without her....then maybe I won't dislike the 10th of the month anymore. Actually, I wish I could just rewind time 6 months and none of this would have ever happened.
So, although I know the Easter season is a time for renewal and new life, something was missing. Yes, we had a nice day, but my mom wasn't there...
The kids had off last week for their spring break. We were very fortunate to have Grandpa Walt come to visit us while the kids were out of school. The kids loved having him around and I did, too (I always have a list of fix-it items for him to work on when he comes)! It was a busy week...we spent a few days at home, then 6 days at the beach, and then back home for Easter. We had a really fun time at the beach. Our friends joined us for a couple days which made the trip even better...the weather was cool, but we were able to do lots of kayaking in the canal, play in the sand at the beach (waaayyyy too cold to even put your feet in the water), go on our favorite nature walk to the bay, do lots of outlet shopping, tour a historic town nearby that we'd always wanted to go to, and, of course, EAT CRABS!
