Easter has never been one of my favorite holidays. I could never get past the deprivation of Lent and the solemnity of Christ's death and then the oddity of a bunny that drops off gifts in celebration of Christ's resurrection. Don't get me wrong - I love the idea of celebrating the afterlife and I totally get the celebration of the rebirth of spring. But I so much prefer to celebrate the birth of Christ than the death. I can't get my arms around his mother watching him die like that. It's always shaken me to the core, even when I was a kid.
Over the past half dozen years or so, though, I have started to LOVE Easter. Easter means Spring Break with the DeFosses. My sister and her husband, Jesse, have three fabulous children and a fourth on the way. For the past six or so years, we've spent Easter vacationing with them. It is perfection. It's made me long for the days of old when families lived under the same roof or on the same block, when a mom to one was a mom to all, and when you learned to navigate the world by watching the bigger kids who went before you and who shared all their secrets.
Easter has become the one time of year when my sister and I share the same roof - even if it's the roof of a giant condo complex. We are nuclear family once again.
It's the time of year when there is always an extra adult hand for a little kid to hold.
It's the time of year when Uncle Ryan taught Gus to "scuba swim" and Gannon jumped off the side of the pool and touched the bottom and Maguire did her first cannonball and swam the length of the pool without help.
It's growing up and independence and all those things kids want so much and we so want to keep from them.
Spring Break is when Poj got his first taste of the good life....
And Aunt Tt told Francie that her mother lied when she said the world did not revolve around her...
And I saw through new eyes how much my son looks like Daddy...
And Grandma D snuggled each kid like she'd birthed them herself...
And Poj got words of wisdom, like "don't eat sand," from his godfather...
And everyone found out that sandcastles are best built by many hands...
And we all realized that Maddie is not a kid anymore, but a beautiful and graceful young lady...
Love,
Momma T.
Happy Easter my friend. Your vacation looks fabulous.
ReplyDeleteMiss you.
xoxo,t