Hippity... Happy.... Hoppy....Holidaze?

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 Ah...  today at one o'clock our school dismisses for the Easter break we have all been waiting for!  The honor roll students just trundled off on a big, yellow school bus for a party at the principal's house...  and the rest of us are quietly ticking off the hours with a few worksheets, a couple of great books, and a little bit of anticipation for the taco salad we sense awaits in the cafeteria...  It's a cold, Easter-blustery day as so many Easters have been in my life...  We had been having unbelievably hot days, even in the 90's...  I'm not ready for that.  Even my little cold-natured Mama turned on the AC one night...  That's a first.  Mom turned it on before I did... Lucky me..  I have a very sweet but incredibly warm Easter sweater...  I got to wear it today because the weather cooperated this year.

 My "almost" son who lived with us for years and years is off on the adventure of a lifetime tomorrow.  My son takes him to the airport, and then...  my almost son will fly to Dublin, Ireland, to work on a home he will share with a new wife he met online...  Yep..  I am "amazed"... "gobsmacked" the bride to be would say....  We have shared a few holidays, Easters and Christmases with this young woman, and I hope they decide to put Missouri on their list to visit again..  Their wedding is in June in Florida on a beach...  How romantic!  Don't you love it?

 For our "last" meal together Tuesday evening, I fixed all the childhood favorites because this young man and my son have been best buddies since second grade.  They are an unlikely looking set of friends because my son is extremely tall and big-built, gentle and easy-going (on the surface, anyway) and the other is short and very fiery...  But in the long run they have had each other's backs and been quite good for each other.  It was always such a pleasure to have a house full of friends, watching television, working on cars, building a bomb in the basement... doing science projects for school....  They worked together in two workplaces and they are both so good to Mom and to me...

Easter's blessings, gifts of the gracious Lord who gave the greatest blessing so long ago, continue to inspire my heart.  I adore all seasons...  Each one brings a special tone to the world, creating one harmonious chord in our lives.  Easter's brightness is so cheerful, so hopeful...  Even though I do not get to travel to my sweet great-aunt's home to celebrate in Quincy as I did my entire young life, I plan to enjoy every moment...  Her home was a two-story town home, and one of my favorite parts besides her absolute "doting" on me and lovely Easter baskets...  was her carpeted stairway...  I loved to slide down that stairway, and just the other day my son shared that he remembered doing the exact same sliding-thing the three Easters he got to spend at Aunt Thelma's....  How cool is that?

I might even hide a few eggs for my grown up son...  In memory of my dad who always hid eggs in exactly the same places every year for his grown-up daughter and anyone else sharing the holiday..  There was always a  code, with certain colors of eggs worth more money than others...  It's worth the hunt, I'll tell you...  I think he enjoyed finding the ones we missed and having a little foil-wrapped chocolate treat through the rest of the month!  And of course, Mom and I will boil and dye eggs...  Nothing tastes as good as an Easter egg...  Boiled eggs are always yummy I think, but something about the little pink or baby blue peeking through the shell and dotting the whites...  it makes it all worth the annual wait...

They key to all of life is to enjoy it...  by helping others, of course...  but also by celebrating even if alone for few...  It is the only 57th Easter of my life I will ever have, so it has to be good.

With all the new flowers peeping through the ground and the gorgeous flowering trees around, I am more than happy to wish you all a Happy Easter and a beautiful holiday weekend.  A giant purple wisteria shakes its majestic branches over the top of my car parked outside my school window...  Nothing more is needed to complete the view from my classroom...  I mentally take a steaming cup of German Chocolate coffee out to the little bench I see tucked beneath that wisteria...  If you'll excuse me, I have some dreaming to do...  Take care!!!!