It was a rainy Easter Sunday.
Even though the rain was scheduled to stop in the afternoon, it would be far too wet.
Far too wet for an Easter Egg hunt that we planned for our grandchildren.
Four of our grandchildren were with us on Easter Sunday.

I had filled the eggs days before.
Up there with ironing and wrapping presents, filling eggs is not my favorite thing to do.
I like finding and buying the items while imagining the smiles on their faces.
However, putting the items in the eggs and closely them tightly, is not fun for me.

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All through the holidays, children and grandchildren were in and out of our home.
When others have to knock on the door or ring the bell, our family can walk right in.
My husband and I love the bustle and busyness.
We love to have our family around us.

Only family can walk right in the back kitchen door.
I laugh when my grandchildren like to ring the doorbell.
They don’t have to, of course, but they think they are surprising us.
Of course, we have mastered the art of surprise, which makes them so happy.

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I saw him checking the potted plants.
I was waiting for a favorite poet/Anglican priest to speak at a church near me.
I got to the room early and sat in the third row.
A friend was the facilitator for the discussion, which was about the Sacred Imagination.

A man was doing sound checks and arranging microphones, since the talk would be recorded.
A young boy was very serious about the two potted plants that were next to the chairs.
He put his finger in the soil.
He fastidiously checked each of the plants.

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Our son, daughter-in-love, and two of our granddaughters were here with us for two weeks. They were having some work done on their house, while they were here. As my daughter-in-love said, We make good roommates. We do! It is one thing to love your children, their spouses, and your grandchildren. It is another thing […]

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We have runners in our family.
My children and some of my in-loves like to run.
They run for exercise.
They run for sheer enjoyment.

If my children are runners, they do not get that skill from me.
I am a walker.
I can usually walk fast, but I am no where near the speed of a runner.
You either love running or you don’t.

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Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

This is a quote that I’ve always loved from the movie, You’ve Got Mail.
I think about it this time of year when I see mothers and children in the back to school aisle.
I see them with their lists.
I see them with their shopping carts and I remember.

I remember the days of taking my five children to go school supply shopping.
I would literally designate a corner of the shopping cart for each child.
There was also a pile in the middle of the cart as well.
I could easily tell you what pile was for each child based on their choices.

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We rent the same house each summer in the Outer Banks.
The house has eight bedrooms, to accommodate our large family.
It is three houses away from the beach.
It has its own pool.

We have two large tents that we bring with us to set up on the beach.
One daughter-in-love makes a schedule for setting up and taking down the tents each day.
That way no one has to do it all the time.
Two people get up early and set up the tents for the rest of the day.

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I am expecting a package.
My husband is expecting a package as well.
We both got a notification that our packages were delivered yesterday.
We were both told that our packages were delivered in or around our mailbox.

Neither package arrived.
We went out to the mailbox.
There was nothing to be found inside or around it.
We looked at each of our doors and near our garage.

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Remember when you were little and got something new?
It was so special.
It was carried with you every minute of the day.
It was even put in your bed at night.

Children latch on to things.
Security?
Comfort?
Sense of ownership?

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All of our toys are now being used by the next generation.
Even with five children, it is amazing that we still have all the pieces to our games.
We still have all the Fisher Price Little People sets intact.
We still have the Fisher Price dollhouse and all its accessories.

We still have the play kitchen with all the pretend food.
We still have the dishes, teacups, and spoons from all those years ago.
We still have the tea bag that goes into the tea kettle.
We still have all the toppings that go on the pizza.

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