Sprinting through Spring

 Ah April! 

Really, the poets who call it cruel are being paradoxical, right? It's hard to be unhappy this time of year. I've been rereading Anne of Green Gables with the youngest, and I tend to agree with Anne that it is difficult to be sad or lonely this time of year when everything is fresh and green and blooming. My garden looks better than ever after some soaking rains and a good dose of fertilizer. The echinacea returned, the daisies are flourishing, the impatiens have filled out - they'll last until the first long stretch of heat, but so far we have escaped that. My raised bed has been consumed by slugs, so I need to replant some peppers and lettuces, but I have a happy rosemary bush and new growth on the oregano.

Although there are many things, like battling weeds and missing my kids and friends, that I could dwell in self-pity for - and have, during the winter -  the spring season and wildflowers blooming makes it easier to bear now. I did miss my young adults for Easter, but I was happy for them that they were able to enjoy each other's company and tease me about their gifts. The candy arrive late and melted, squished into mailing boxes that were too small and smashed. Apparently, Nana had enough sweets to satisfy a small army, so no one felt the loss of the Haribos and Swedish Fish and peach rings and all the other terrible artificial stuff they love. I never did find Cadbury mini eggs or even regular Cadbury eggs. I never found all black Brach's jelly beans or chocolate marshmellow eggs or bunnies. What is going on in the candy world? Or is it just the stores near us? 

What we did find is a way to celebrate Easter with the other side of the family. After an exciting day at the track and a good visit with all the track friends, a day marked by PR's in the 4x400 and 4x200, we went to the Vigil Mass. There was enough time to shower and relax and to mark a shift in attitude and arrive in plenty of time for the Easter fire. We had 10 catechumens, so the vigil lasted over 3 hours, but it was beautiful and celebratory; the trumpets fanfared, the lillies perfumed, the candles lit the darkness and melted wax on the pews in front of us. The alleluias echoed joyously.  The Easter vigil really is the culmination of months of preparation and reminds us of the cyclical way that we die and rise many times over throughout our lives. 

This is what I have felt the last couple of weeks - a resurrection of sorts after a gloomy winter. Maybe it's hormonal, maybe it's grace. I like to trust it to the second - how else to survive the first!

 After the vigil we feasted - my husband on a piece of meat, me on champagne, the girls on the failed carrot cake. Then we went to bed and rose a few hours later to drive several hours to see the grandparents in OKC. We decided an Easter with family was well worth a short night of sleep and a moderately long car ride - really less than 6 hours. Two sets of cousins - the ones around our youngest's age - came over, and we had an Easter egg hunt in which 10 kids made short work of 250 eggs.  They blew bubbles, colored with chalk, and played ball in the yard, before feasting on the traditional Easter feast - ham, asparagus, salad, potatoes, rolls, etc. No jello salad this year. Lemon bars and carrot cake and candy and ice cream satisfied everyone's sweet tooth. We sat around and talked, did some yard work cutting up limbs that came down in a storm, and bottle fed kittens my sister-in-law had rescued from a litter left in her garden shed.  The kids played and ate candy, and somehow the afternoon passed quickly. We didn't linger long after breakfast the next day, but the visit was long enough to share some hugs with the grandparents and make a memory with the cousins.

It also was long enough to remind my own two kids left at home that they are part of a family bigger than they sometimes realize. They have people who care about them and people they need to care for. A constant goal of parenting while living an itinerant life has been to give my kids a sense of rootedness in their membership in an extended family, a family they may find awkward or annoying, but a family that is there for them in difficulty and in celebration. I'm happy some of those efforts have been fruitful with the older kids who now choose the company of their grandparents and cousins without me forcing it. A real Easter gift..