Easter Ant

Today is Easter Eve-It was such a wonderful day! First of all, there was the annual Easter egg hunt in the city park. As I sat in the shade in my comfy chair, I looked at the hundreds of hopeful children, all lined and ready to tackle the field strewn with thousands of colorful plastic eggs, each egg filled with a surprise of some kind. I clearly remembered the excitement of looking for the colored hard-boiled eggs that my parents "hid" in the grass and yard when I was a very little girl. I hate hard boiled eggs, but that didn't matter, I loved to find them. Then there were the awful sugar coated marshmallow eggs-wrapped in cellophane glittering and peeking out between the blades of grass and the leaves of the bushes. I hated them too-but I loved to find them! Of course there was always the bowl of jelly beans, and most hated of all were the black ones. Easter was always redeemed for me by finding the large chocolate Easter Bunny in a basket lined with green plastic grass. I would always start by biting off it's ears and working my way down to the tail, the last, precious bite. My brother has been a diabetic all of his life, and in spite of that, he would get a chocolate bunny too. He couldn't eat his, but to make sure I didn't either, he would hide it somewhere in the house. This was Easter #2 for me, because I didn't stop until I found that chocolate bunny and chewed his ears off too. To think of it, George always hid his candy so that I couln't have any of it- Halloween candy, Christmas candy, Valentine candy and Easter candy. He was quite ingenious, but candy was involved, so I was more ingenious. Sometimes I would find his stash, eat the candy and wrap the paper around some play-dough to make it look like it was still there. Other times I would just blatantly leave the empty wrappers just so I could show him that it was useless to try to keep it from me. Worst of all I suppose, I would leave the black jelly beans and take the rest- gosh, I was so awful! But today, watching the kids waiting impatiently to begin the hunt, I once again felt the rush of anticipation, and the joy of Easter. The clock turned back and once again, I was in the middle of Easter magic. The sun was so warm, the air so sweet with honeysuckle and the children dressed in such lovely spring colors. The parents were all the same, cameras at the ready, coaxing a smile and trying so hard not to miss a single moment of the magic. I let the feelings wash over and around me, reveled in the happiness and basked in the thought that life was so very wonderful. For a while, all thoughts of horrible management at work, the lack of income, the worry of the future, all of that was relegated to the "it doesn't matter right now" bin. I guess too, I loved the realization that there was no cost to any of it, at least not for me. Perhaps I enjoyed the hunt this year, because I was not concerned with how I was going to impress my grandkids, or how much I was going to spend to make them happy. I was not concerned with bigger baskets, bigger bunnies, more, more more! I was free to enjoy the moment. And I did.
My sweet nieces, their Mama, my loving niece Gail, and my Sister-in-law came to share the day with me. I look forward to having them each time we have a holiday. Their love is so special, and it is an honor to be something special to them. Along with the 7 of them, there was Eli, Jacob, Kayliegh, Jared, Julian, Ryker, KC, Jenna, and all of the parents. I found myself with a houseful of wonderful. I could not have the blow-out celebration that I had every year, instead, we had a simple Easter Party complete with laughter and excitement. We played games, hunted eggs, ate cookies, candy, (purchased half-price the day after Valentines day at Walmart and saved for this occasion)corn dogs, french fries and drank pink lemonade. All of the food came from my food storage- I was so proud of myself. I used king-sized pillow cases for the sack races, and potatoes from the bin for the potato race. "Prizes" came from the dollar store. Everyone had such a wonderful time.
In between the Easter Egg hunt at the park and the party at my house, we all went along the nature trails and picked wild blackberries, or as we know them, Dewberries. They are coming in season now, and it looks like I will have an abundance of berries for my jellymaking this year. For the next month, we will pick berries each day, storing them in the freezer until they run out, and then the jellymaking will begin. I will make wonderful wild dewberry jelly- a true treasure of nature! I hope to make quite a bit so that I can sell some to help out with our finances. While we were out along the trails, we saw several wonders. First of all, the trails go along a bayou, and in the bayou are snakes, alligators, turtles, fish and lots of birds. Today, we saw a small alligator and a very large snake swimming in the water. The turtles were sunning themselves, but would dart back into the water when they saw us. Up on a hill, we saw a doe and a baby deer, watching us carefully, but not spooking away. We got a good long look at them, and they eventually blended back into the woods. There were a couple of cranes, some redbirds, lots of black birds and regular birds. All of this less than a half mile from my door! Once again, I was filled with the goodness of Heavenly Father's bounty and the beauty of nature. As we continued on, walking and picking, I lost track of time, and the girls and I just kept filling our bucket with fat blackberries. Every now and then, an especially chubby berry found it's way into my mouth, and I savored the sweet tangy taste of a wild berry. The wind was brisk and cooling, but that hid the heat of the day and the effect of the rays of the sun. After a while, as I was picking and enjoying the experience with the girls, I stood up with a handful of berries and to my surprise, I saw Sissy striding along the back trails where we were with Eli and Jacob in tow. I smiled and waved, so tickled to see them and wanting to show them the bountious harvest of berries we had picked. I should have known that something was up. The next thing I heard was, "Mother! Don't you grin at me like that! What do you think you are doing out in the hot sun, sweating and getting all red! Have you lost your mind? No, I don't want to see those stupid berries, do you think berries are worth getting heat stroke?!! Where is your hat? Do you know how long you have been out here? I swear, you don't ever think about the consequences sometimes. If you fall out, who's going to get you back home? Now, turn around and go home!! Now! No, don't worry about everyone else, they are young and HEALTHY, and will be just fine. Wait till I tell my daddy about this!" The situation hit me with such humor, that I began to laugh while I made my way back home, carrying a bucket of berries, two cans of soda, a box of crackers that we forgot to feed to the turtles and leading the two littlest children. I guess things have turned around a bit! I felt once again like I did long ago, when I would lose track of time and wander far away because I was having such a good time. My worried Grandmother would come looking for me and chastise me for not being more thoughtful and giving her such concern. I realized that we had come about 2 miles along the trails, and boy, that seemed quite a trip back, but my heart was full of love for my bossy daughter who had taken the time to come and look for her Mama. I will give her the first jar of jelly, just because she took the time to care. Later, she assured me that she would not tell "daddy" so that I would not get in trouble with him. Like I said, it seems the roles are reversed!
So, today was wonderful. An Easter egg hunt, a berry picking excursion with lots of wonderful sites and lots of berries too, and an Easter party for everyone. A perfect day with no thought of expense, because I didn't have much money to expend. For some reason, this year was so much more enjoyable for me-probably because I experienced the day so very differently than in many years past. I hope this is a portent of the future, the life of an Ant, experiencing life with all of it's fullness. I love being an Ant, I love the adventure and rewards that come from this life changing
experience. I may never again have money to "blow", but I treasure more, the ability and challenge of making do with what I have. And surprisingly, I have more than I ever realized! All I have to do is look around-believe me, life in all it's joy surrounds me. Love, Nanasee