We've had animals in the yard before: squirrels, geckos, cats, even a snake one scary night when I was home alone. I am not, however, fond of any of those creatures. I admit it, they all scare me a little. But a bunny?? They look so soft and cuddly and just a cute as they can be. So whether he be the Easter Bunny, or Flopsie, Mopsie, or Peter or a totally non-celebrity bunny. He is welcome for as long as he wishes to stay!
*** I worry about my daughter. I am a mom, so that sort of goes with the territory. I used to think that once she was grown and out on her own, I wouldn't worry as much. Didn't happen. Then I thought when she was married, I wouldn't worry as much. That didn't happen either. After she had a child, surely I wouldn't worry so much. HA! That was a miscalculation of mammoth proportion.
I am proud of her and all of her accomplishments. She is busy nearly every minute of her day. She is a wonderful mother, super daughter, and a great caring human being. And just listening to all she does, makes me tired. I don't know how she does it. She has a full time high-level job in theater Administration (so her hours can be somewhat unpredictable and non-typical). She is a founding member of the group working to establish the Hepatoblastoma Foundation and she is a liaison to CureSearch. There's a knitting group that she meets with regularly to support her great love of knitting. She's a Girl Scout leader and Cookie Mom. She's the mother of a 9 year old. who is taking violin and plays on a softball team. She watches over all of us in the family when anyone is sick or needs help. She is married to another theater professional whose schedule is even worse than hers. She is vigilently watching over the health of Miracle Maddie! She gets tired out. I can understand why! Most of her days are pretty full!!
So yeah, I worry about her. I wish her days were easier, I wish she was less frazzled sometimes, I even sometimes wish she was still a little girl so she wouldn't have all these responsibilities and her life would be simpler. But she's not. And she is remarkable, somehow she makes it all happen. Nevertheless, I worry about her. Of course I do. I'm her mother.
*** This past weekend was kind of busy. It was a triple celebration of sorts. April 2 is our wedding anniversay, April 8 is Maddie-the-Great's birthday (her 9th!), and as it does every few years, Easter fell on the Sunday in between the two. It only makes sense to celebrate them all together. So there were elements of three different things going on. The Big Guy made my all time favorite dinner, his specialty, "Mikey's Beef Stuff", the lovely yellow roses from our Anniversary served as the centerpiece for the table. And the toast before dinner included continued good wishes for our future.
As far as M-t-G (and her mom) were concerned, the first half of the day was Easter. Church, a little Easter basket, and some new books, a pretty little springtime dress for Maddie (no hat!), then to Grammy and Poppa's and the traditional Egg Hunt, one very large Chocolate Bunny, and a basket of goodies there were NOT all candy! I didn't color eggs this year, its just not as much fun without a kid in attendance! However, the little plastic candy filled eggs, worked just fine.
We played a lively game of "Charoodles" and then came the dinner. The entree was my choice for the "anniversary" part, but in truth, it is the favorite meal of our whole family.
We were all stuffed full of wonderful food so we played another game. This one is called "Origins". M-t-G is getting very good at grown-up games which is terrific. We don't have to "let" her win so much anymore. (Besides, I'm not sure that I have even one more Chutes and Ladders left in me!!)
Finally, it was candles and Happy Birthday along with Mikey's Chocolate Malt Cheesecake for dessert, which made those with a sweet tooth (Mikey, Ratchlet and M-t-G) very happy. Then, at long last (at least for M-t-G) the Birthday presents finally appeared. They were all a hit!
Everybody had a great combo celebration together (except for T.A. who is in the Netherlands for work!!) I just love holidays with my family....even when we try to cram three things into one day!
*** Every Easter I remember my Mom and my Gram. The Easter Bunny was always very generous at our house. Coloring eggs, Chocolate bunnies, candy eggs, baskets full of fun stuff, a new stuffed animal, all made perfect Easter memories for a kid. Of course, the Easter Bunny always hid the eggs.
[Okay, if any of your youngish kids are reading over your shoulder, its time to send them to bed or to do their homework or something.]
My mom was a great believer in traditions and holidays and sentiment. She had learned them from her mom, my Gram, even how to be an Easter Bunny! So every year my mom hid the eggs and the baskets, and the stuffed animals. As I got older it got harder to find the eggs. Mom got tricky and the hiding places got sneakier. One memorable year. Gram happened to be spending Easter with us. Mom always knew how many eggs and things there were for me to find and she always knew right where they were hidden. On this particular year, I don't remember how old I was, Easter morning before we went to Church (the hunt was always after), Gram saw an egg that she thought was not hidden well enough....so she moved it somewhere else a little harder to find. She never told my mom. When we got back from Mass, the hunt began! I looked, I found, I climbed, I opened, I peeked under, I moved knicknacks, I checked behind cushions and pillows, I re-checked places I had already looked. You see, I found all the baskets and "things and all of the eggs....except one. We counted and recounted those eggs. No doubt about it, one was missing. Of course, the one missing was the one Gram moved. Well, when I couldn't find it, she "fessed" up and told mom she had moved the egg. "Great!!! Where did you move it?? Gram??? You don't remember????? (sigh) Keep looking!"
We looked for that darn egg all day long off and on. We never did find it that day. In fact, my mom finally found it about 2 months later! Gram had put it way in the back of a drawer full of linens and things under a pile of old tablecloths or something. It was a drawer which was rarely ever opened. Gram was right, it was a MUCH better hiding place!
And it was a wonderful holiday story that got told and re-told for years afterward. It was a lesson to us all....we haven't lost an egg since!
If you have a garden, I'd worry about that bunny. It may be cute to you now but after it eats your young sprouts... you may have a change of heart.
ReplyDeleteLook for holes in the yard in the grass. They are known to take over abandoned woodchuck holes.
My husband, before we were married, he had depressions in his lawn. One day he was cutting the lawn and he ran over the bunnies nest ... it wasn't a pretty sight. He still feels badly about the bunnies that were killed that day.
If you use a lawn tractor to cut your lawn, you may want to check for rabbit nests.
I loved your easter egg story... that cracked me up.
Aww, your very own bunny! Sweet!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy hearing your storys.
ReplyDeleteLove the part about worrying about your daughter. I guess that never ends. And the really sad thing is that their problems ss adults are usually not anything we can help with. Almost makes you long for the old skinned knee days when a kiss from Mom could make everything better!
ReplyDelete