Welcome back to SOLO at SIXTY!
My daughter asked me Saturday night if I thought the Easter Bunny would know where to find her. Told her, “I feel pretty sure he will”. And he did. We both laughed for a long time when she came down the stairs Sunday morning. Her childhood Easter basket (made by my very talented father-in-law 32 years ago) was waiting for her by the front door, complete with Easter grass, plastic eggs (one filled with $$), and our traditional Reese’s peanut butter eggs. Oh and some bunny ears. Yes, of course I still have my kids’ childhood Easter baskets, and if the other kids were here, theirs would have been out as well!
“The very first Easter taught us this: that life never ends and love never dies.” Kate McGahan
What a different Easter 2020 was. No attending church. No new Easter outfit. No Easter family picnic. Instead, watching the Moravian church service streamed live on Facebook, which my daughter set up on my TV over the fireplace. Familiar hymns, empty pews. After it ended, another Facebook video came on with a group singing “How Great Thou Art” through a zoom session. This one got me. Brought me to tears. So thankful to have my daughter here but missed my other kids, my sisters, my momma. Easter is always an emotional holiday for me. In addition to the meaning of Easter, 23 years ago we left my family and my home to move to Virginia on Easter Monday. We spent our last Easter service with my son (5 years old) and me putting flowers on the large wire cross in the sanctuary, my daughters (11 and 9) walking into church with the choir singing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today…” Their last time. Those memories always come to the forefront on Easter Sunday for me. I hear that hymn and I picture them as my babies, not my grown children. Ahhh… memories. This year my kids are in their late 20’s and early 30’s, and Easter is so different.
“The church may have been empty on Easter, but so was the tomb.”
After the service, my daughter reminded me we had to have our Easter bonnets made by early afternoon. What you ask? My older sister came up with the idea of having an Easter bonnet competition with sweet Jack as our judge. Jack has been making so many crafts while homeschooling that we thought it would be fun to show him some of our crafting. Rule was you had to use what you had on hand. My niece made GREAT Easter bonnets for my nephew, herself, Jack, and Izzie – she has so many craft supplies at home! My younger sister added flowers to a hat and looked like she was heading to the Kentucky Derby. My older sister, always creative, used a lavender loofah with a ribbon bow and a big feather, and she added some Easter decor to my brother-in-law’s favorite fishing hat for him. My ever creative younger daughter built an Easter garden on a paper plate which we attached to a hairband. And me? I am the least creative but I felt pretty good about mine – I used a balloon weight with Easter grass and a ribbon bow on a small paper plate as a fascinator. But what made mine so funny was that I wore my grandmother Isabelle’s wig. Yep, I have her wig and I don’t know why. She wore this wig for as long as I can remember and was always so fashionable. We had a zoom session with everyone, including my older daughter and my son who did not participate this year (I sent the details a bit late to them!) but wanted to see all of the creations. What fun and what a hoot! We could not be together in person, but we could see and talk to each other. So thankful for technology. Later in the day, my sisters and I were able to have a 4-way face time call with Mom. She is doing well, happy, and had experienced a visit with a real live bunny. No joke.
“Every bunny need some bunny sometime.”
My daughter and I decided we needed comfort food for our Easter lunch, so instead of the usual KFC, I made oven fried chicken legs, mashed potatoes (thank you Bob Evans!), and of course green beans. We ate lunch out on my porch and celebrated the final hours of Easter. All in all, we adapted and had a good, yet very different Easter. One for the books. Hopefully, we will all be together in person next Easter.
“Train your mind to see the good in everything. Positivity is a choice. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.”
Are y’all hanging IN there or barely hanging ON? So far I am hanging in there. Brought my office plants home last Friday. Kind of a sad day, a bit of finality for these times. One of my teammates always waters my plants. How will they live at my house?!?! I need a watering schedule. Speaking of schedules, I am so off my schedule. Staying up late (hello, Jimmy Fallon), so sleeping in a bit. How will I ever get up at 5 am to make it to my older daughter’s cycle class when normal life returns? Trust me, for that I will find a way! I am looking so forward to those classes! And all of my classes – I am a class junkie.
How are you spending your days? Like I said, I am sleeping in, working a bit, writing, reading, and walking or running 4-5 miles a day. When I walk, I either call friends and catch up or listen to music. I am thankful for the beautiful weather we have had. It’s a bit chilly today but still, it is sunny. I’ll take the sunshine anyday. Like everyone else, I miss my family, my friends, my co-workers, my normalcy. But at the same time, I am enjoying this much slower pace. I am enjoying having a child home again. I am enjoying catching up with old friends. I am actually stopping and smelling the flowers y’all! So let’s hang in there, and let’s hang on… this is TEMPORARY! Good days and good things are coming, but in the meantime, make the most of every day, don’t wish these days away, stop and appreciate all that you have, because as we all know, none of us is promised tomorrow.
“Even on a cloudy day, the sun is shining somewhere!”
Best,
Leslie
PS – Some more Coronavirus funnies:
“Me: Alexa what’s the weather this weekend? Alexa: It doesn’t matter – you’re not going anywhere.”
“I swear my fridge just said “what the hell do you want now?”
“The world has turned upside down. Old folks are sneaking out of the house, and their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!”
“I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone. He asked me what I was wearing.”
“Quarantine has turned us into dogs. We roam the house all day looking for food. We are told “no” if we get too close to strangers. And we get really excited about car rides.”
SOLO at SIXTY 