2007 Easter Reflections

I have not posted in a few weeks now, however, life is good overall, the grass is greening up here in Michigan, and God continues to bestow a multitude of blessings upon me.

I had a relatively fruitful lent (being pregnant did not allow me to fast from food in a manner similar to my usual Lenten observances, so I had to be more creative when it came to deciding upon what I would do this lent in order to assist my spiritual growth) and holy week, and I expect that the next forty-nine days of Easter will see spiritual blessings as well. J.R. and I have been completing the Divine Mercy novena together, and look forward to celebrating Mercy Sunday next week.

We spent Easter with J.R.'s family this year. One gold star to his family for planning its Easter celebration well in advance of Holy Thursday (as my family managed to pull together at the last minute). We had a nice time visiting with J.R.'s family, but I have to admit that things are different in how our families celebrate the holidays (a fact that was not so apparent between the two different sides of the family Christmas celebrations that I attended).

A couple of ways in which gatherings are different between our families:

1. The meal. My family is famous for making enough food to feed an army (which is way more food than is needed for most family gatherings). For as long as I can remember the general rule has been that there is tons of food whenever a family gathering takes place with lots of leftovers. Now, leftovers can be both a good and a bad thing. Leftovers equal food that is prepared and ready to go when hunger strikes, but storing all of the leftovers is an issue sometimes and there is the risk of leftovers going to waste. J.R.'s family was able to plan a simple, appropriate Easter meal that was quite good, it was just different from my ordinary experience (which I have a feeling is probably not considered ordinary to many) with the meals partaken of at family gatherings.

2. The size. I have five brothers and sisters, each of my parents had eight siblings; whereas J.R. has one brother and one sister, his father has only one sister, and though J.R.'s mother has a few brothers and sisters, they all hail from the south and are not present at family gatherings as such. To cut to the point, when a family gathering takes place in my family, it cannot help but be good-sized, you would have a hard time keeping a party "small and intimate." It is not a bad thing that J.R.'s family does not have to hunt down a couple of card tables and chairs in order to have seating available for everyone, I actually really liked the fact that not everyone split into groups (as inevitably happens at my family's gatherings) during and after the meal.

At any rate, though our families are different certainly, I am learning to appreciate better the little things that each bring to my life.