I went to Walgreen's today to purchase items for my youngest daughters Easter basket. I was trying to get it in the mail so that she would have it by Saturday. This will be the first time in 19 years she won't be home for Easter. This will be the first year my Dad will not celebrate an earthly Easter.
My childhood home was lined with HUGE azaleas. They adorned either side of the steep driveway. My parents loved them. My brother and I hated them as kids. They were out of control supernatural large. Occasionally, as teenagers, when we would get out of our cars there would be a snake staring at us from the branches of those dogwood sized azaleas. I can hear my Dad laughing just like it was 1982. "Lillibet, you are in their territory they are not in yours". Hate snakes. Not wild about azaleas to this very day.
Every Easter that I lived under my parents roof my Dad had flowers for us. Thoughtfully placed next to my Easter basket on Easter morning. A corsage ( remember those?) of yellow roses and white babies breath for me. An Easter Lilly, Irises, and Roses in a vase for my Mother. My Dad continued the tradition for Mother until her death.
I'm not sure why Mama loved Easter the way she did. Probably because she grew up in a sleepy Southern town where the Baptist Church was the center of all things spiritual and social. At any rate, Easter was Jane's thing.
As a little girl Mama and I would go to my grandmothers house outside of Rocky Mount, NC. We would take the train to Richmond. We would buy our Easter dresses at Miller & Rhoads. Afterwords we would eat lunch in the tea room. My Nana would usually buy me something out of the Easter bookstore. Then we would head back to North Carolina. It is one of my favorite childhood memories. Probably why Easter is my favorite season too.
I love the resurrection story. I love the way our Southern town comes alive with color just before Jesus leaves that dark tomb. I love the traditions of Easter egg hunts, mens seersucker suits, and little girls smocked Easter dresses. I love that we take the time, the effort, to go all out to celebrate Jesus.
My mother made these incredible chocolate & peanut butter Easter eggs. Every year she would mail one to my girls. Each girl received an egg with a flower on top and their names beautifully scripted in pastel icing. The last year she was alive she was so sick. She managed to plan ahead somewhat. She made six chocolate peanut butter eggs and froze them. She left my Dad in charge of mailing those frozen peanut butter eggs to her three grandchildren. For two Easter seasons, after her passing, our daughters and my nephew enjoyed the gift of Mimis chocolate covered peanut butter Easter eggs.
After I mailed our daughter her basket I drove home. As I pulled in the driveway a single yellow butterfly was circling my vehicle. It was the first butterfly that I've seen this Spring. I just sat there, in my driveway, and cried. Not a big melt down at all. Just a sadness and happiness cry all at the same time. I texted my brother. He immediately texted back. He expressed that he, too, had been overcome with the same feelings. Our parents are at peace. They are in heaven. Out of their sickly earthly bodies. Where they've always wanted to be. They are in the presence of our Savior. It still aches, though, for their children and grandchildren down here on earth.
I know Mary must have felt the same. She watched the pain and the suffering. She longed for the pain to stop. She must have prayed that God would end it. That He would relieve her son from the suffering. She knew her Son, our Son, was seated on the right hand of His father. This was where He wanted to be all along. I feel certain that made her smile. But I bet every Resurrection season she was filled with a fleshly sadness too.
Our family continues on the Easter traditions. We pack up and head down to the beach with my husbands parents. Our girls childhood was spent running, Easter morning, into the den at the beach. Anxiously tearing into their Easter baskets. God's glorious sea and Carolina blue sky as the backdrop. Trying to dress them in their matching Easter dresses before church. Granny unsuccessfully trying to keep each beautiful outfit chocolate free. Granddaddy sipping his coffee and laughing. Sigh. They are both grown now.
Life does go on. Everything we experience is for just a time as this. To prepare us. To teach us. To help us become the teachers. The good news? Jesus Christ did rise from the dead! Hallelujah! He rose so that we may have new life in Him. So that we are guaranteed a generational bloodline. A place in Heaven for all eternity with the King of Kings. The Lord of Lords. That, my friends, is better than one of Mimi's Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs.
My mother made these incredible chocolate & peanut butter Easter eggs. Every year she would mail one to my girls. Each girl received an egg with a flower on top and their names beautifully scripted in pastel icing. The last year she was alive she was so sick. She managed to plan ahead somewhat. She made six chocolate peanut butter eggs and froze them. She left my Dad in charge of mailing those frozen peanut butter eggs to her three grandchildren. For two Easter seasons, after her passing, our daughters and my nephew enjoyed the gift of Mimis chocolate covered peanut butter Easter eggs.
After I mailed our daughter her basket I drove home. As I pulled in the driveway a single yellow butterfly was circling my vehicle. It was the first butterfly that I've seen this Spring. I just sat there, in my driveway, and cried. Not a big melt down at all. Just a sadness and happiness cry all at the same time. I texted my brother. He immediately texted back. He expressed that he, too, had been overcome with the same feelings. Our parents are at peace. They are in heaven. Out of their sickly earthly bodies. Where they've always wanted to be. They are in the presence of our Savior. It still aches, though, for their children and grandchildren down here on earth.
I know Mary must have felt the same. She watched the pain and the suffering. She longed for the pain to stop. She must have prayed that God would end it. That He would relieve her son from the suffering. She knew her Son, our Son, was seated on the right hand of His father. This was where He wanted to be all along. I feel certain that made her smile. But I bet every Resurrection season she was filled with a fleshly sadness too.
Our family continues on the Easter traditions. We pack up and head down to the beach with my husbands parents. Our girls childhood was spent running, Easter morning, into the den at the beach. Anxiously tearing into their Easter baskets. God's glorious sea and Carolina blue sky as the backdrop. Trying to dress them in their matching Easter dresses before church. Granny unsuccessfully trying to keep each beautiful outfit chocolate free. Granddaddy sipping his coffee and laughing. Sigh. They are both grown now.
Life does go on. Everything we experience is for just a time as this. To prepare us. To teach us. To help us become the teachers. The good news? Jesus Christ did rise from the dead! Hallelujah! He rose so that we may have new life in Him. So that we are guaranteed a generational bloodline. A place in Heaven for all eternity with the King of Kings. The Lord of Lords. That, my friends, is better than one of Mimi's Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Eggs.
"The old has passed away; behold, the new has come"-2 Corinthians 5:17
