The Times They Are a Changin'

I've written about our muddled Easter traditions before, but for the most part, some or all of the family has usually managed to be together for some or all of Easter weekend. This year, however, our family is scattered: Em and Tuck are spring-breaking in Florida, and Darton and Emma are celebrated Easter in Rochester with Emma's family. They were all home less than a month ago, and I wasn't expecting anyone for Easter, but I'm still missing my kids. Like so many other things, our Easter traditions, such as they were, are changing too. It's been a couple of years since I filled Easter baskets and much longer since I hid black jelly beans on the black piano keys. But this year, I didn't even hang my pastel Easter lights or dig out my carrot-shaped candles, and there's no lemon truffle pie waiting in the fridge for Easter dinner. Instead, Steve and I spent a good bit of Easter Saturday filling out his retirement forms and worrying about our moms and the future, and things were feeling a bit bleak. But then, as it always does, Easter morning arrived filled with hope and promise. And we've just come home from a lovely Easter service where we were reminded that "the best is yet to come." So we are hanging on to that hope today. To top it all off, good ol' Ben, who lives in town, will be here for dinner tonight (and although there is no lemon truffle pie, we do have Easter M&M cookies)!

Happy Easter, one and all!