Dear Reader:

*Before I start today’s post Doodle texted me last night and asked if I had seen B.C. in Sunday’s comic strip. I had not. She told me it would have made the perfect title photo for the connection between the Christmas star and the Easter cross (Easter Sunday’s blog post.) She sent me a link to it and I agree…an Easter God Wink.

The name of the cartoon is “The Easter Star” – like Doodle said the cartoonist and myself were on the same thought wave. Goose bumps! There is so much symbolism in this cartoon as B.C. follows the beauty of the earth (flowers) until they lead him back home again…under the star that began it and the cross within it brings us all back home. (*The ant declares he feels lighter as if (perhaps) suddenly he has become unburdened…someone has taken the weight of the world off his shoulders and he sings a happy tune)

What is the old saying…something about “Man plans, and God laughs.” This was certainly true of Easter 2019…it actually turned out just fine but we did have to plan around a curve ball…Eva Cate getting sick Saturday evening and onward throughout the night.

Mandy called me a little after 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning…I was just coming in from the garden placing the last egg in the back yard for the Easter Egg Hunt. All was done…hunt ready, baskets ready…eating out for an Easter Sunday Brunch…this was going to be an low-key but enjoyable day.

Mandy now told me Eva Cate had gotten sick during the night and had everybody up until the wee hours of the morning….she thought she had just a good old-fashioned stomach ache and they were still coming to meet me for the church service but it would probably be best to cancel the breakfast buffet. Instead they would bring honey ham slices for sandwiches and picnic type food.

I had to laugh to myself…(since I figured God was) with all my pre-planning… Even though it was a little “iffy” whether Eva Cate would make it through the church service… (which she did)… it was  Jake who outdid himself  being “good” and hilarious at the same time.

Throughout the sermon our pastor would ask a rhetorical question…Jake didn’t simply nod or shake his head (like other members of the congregation)  but called out (loudly) “Yes!” or “No!”while simultaneously nodding or shaking his head. He did create many a chuckle to those brave enough to sit around us.

At the end of the service…all I could think of was that Jake Turner had made it all the way through a church service without once rising out of his seat…Hallelujah! I think we have turned the corner…

There was one statement that our Pastor Jeff Kackley made during the service that caused me to ponder about it after everyone left yesterday afternoon. He spoke about the drama of “Good Friday”…the sadness and tragedy and then the happiness and sheer bliss of “Easter Sunday” -two emotional extremes. We mortals, however, while on earth, have to live most of our lives somewhere between these two extremes… within the “Saturdays” of life.

Thank goodness we don’t have too many horrific tragedies in our lives or even extreme exhilarations because we can only handle emotional extremes for a limited amount of time…and then, don’t we find ourselves longing to “return to normalcy?” We are most comfortable within the “Saturdays” of our lives.

Having said that, however, don’t we soon realize that “significant, life-forming times are the dull in-between times.”  The phone rings  on a rainy Tuesday morning and our life is changed forever…for either better or worse;  the doorbell rings and happiness or tragedy stands at our door on a typical Wednesday afternoon… or in today’s world, a text pops up on a mundane Monday evening that starts a chain reaction turning our world upside down. We look back and think…”I never saw it coming.”

We dwell among the in-between days but what we do with these days leads us to the top of mountains or to the bottom of the valley. We should face each day as one that is special and open for possibilities …because the benchmark days will come on the “normal days” out of nowhere. We should always be watching for them.

So until tomorrow..Wouldn’t we all like to think at the end of our life that we would fully realize in reflection  “Bottom line, wasn’t life itself a special occasion?” (Mitford)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

In spite of some drawbacks…this Easter was still a special occasion because I had family here with me…and I got so much ‘lovin’ (kisses and hugs) in church from Jakie that I have stored it all up to last for at least a week… until Eva Cate’s birthday.

Checking out the “loot”…the kids are getting to be experts on the Easter Egg Hunt…they have already figured out to keep finding the eggs and stop only after the hunt to check to see what they got…never during the hunt itself or you will find less eggs.

Jakie’s wishes were too sweet at the wishing well – He closed his eyes and wished for Eva Cate to feel better and ride the race car ride (at Disney) with him next time and for God to love His mommy and daddy. Way to go Jake!

Tommy and Kaitlyn checked in…they were visiting with family today in Tennessee and had stopped by the Sierra Nevada brewery over the weekend. Safe travels home!

I must say that at Bruce and Marcia’s house…the terrain definitely adds more required agility in finding Easter eggs than the flat lowcountry! 🙂  And poor Eloise…what happened to her eggs?

The boys also got to go to Darmouth and watch them play Harvard in a baseball game….fun….hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy and anything thing else that apparently got close to them by the vendor!

Everyone together and happy ….we might have been scattered but still family is always family in our hearts no matter where they are.

*I fell sound asleep in the recliner yesterday afternoon and was awakened by Chelsey bringing me a barbecue plate she had made…what a wonderful ending to a wonderful day.

Happy Easter everyone and have a wonderful week!