Here is an ancient photo taken from my secret vault. My brother Paul..he must have been around 3 plus...and I was nearly 9 months, sitting in the side yard of 711 North Center Ave. waiting for my mom to take our Easter picture. You can see the shadow of her in the foreground... I can imagine her aiming the old Kodak camera after capturing our faces in the top view finder.
Looking out over my expanse of green and growing pasture today my mind wanders back to springtime and Easter in my Illinois hometown. I see a box near me and Paul is holding his Easter basket in his lap. He didn't quite know what to think of his baby sister by this time. The new had worn off and he really didn't feel like being a big brother. The pink bonnet I am wearing went the way of many things..sold at our auction a few years ago. It was pink corduroy and lined with pink silk...when I found it in my mother's things it was a little crumpled and creased..and the lining was ripped. But still it was a keepsake...and one of Mom's sacred objects, or SO's as she fondly called them.
But back to Easter. We always had a Easter basket, hidden in the yard, for us to find after church was over. I look out over my fields and woods and can imagine where I might hide an egg or two for a child to find...hunting and happily finding one here and there. My parents didn't really hide eggs...they went in for the "Let's put all the candy and stuff together in a nest of green cellophane grass and put it outside...where the kids can tear into it and not get their good clothes dirty crawling around."
Spring and Easter. New things growing. Hope abundant. No matter how old..or young you are, Easter and spring meld together, the perfect metaphor for that Eternal Promise we all have. A Happy and Blessed Easter to you and yours. Take lots of pictures. Kids are only young once.
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