Once again, theEaster holiday has come and gone. I’ve seen many Easter weekends come and go–first as a little girl enjoying the new dress and the hunt for dyed eggs, then as a mom dyeing and hiding the eggs among the outdoor foliage and flowers, and later as a grandma having the family over to search them out. Roger and I always took the family to church, but we wanted the rest of the day to be memorable as well, helping the family remember the reason for the season. That usually found me dyeing and hiding eggs, preparing traditional foods, and largely ignoring the Easter Bunny.
This year will definitely be memorable, requiring no effort from any of us. For these grandparents, there were no dyed eggs, no family gatherings (no gatherings at all!), and few special dishes. We tried to prepare Easter dinner with what we had, keeping down the numbers of trips to the grocery store. We had eggs, cream, and strawberries, so pavlova seemed a good dessert. Hard to go wrong with that!
Though this Easter holiday is memorable for all the things that didn’t happen, we know there will be good memories from some of the things we did. Texts, calls, social media posts, and videos replaced in-person visits. A simple meal with a great dessert replaced some of our traditional favorites. We even replaced church by watching a series of Bible videos depicting the events of Holy Week all those years ago.
We enjoyed it all in the midst of an absolutely perfect spring day: calm with light breeze, ideal temperatures, and beautiful evidence of annual renewal all around us in the form of blossoms and buds. Roger and I will have reason to smile when we remember many of the events of this Easter weekend. I wish the same for you.