Easter

Happy Easter

Easter

It's Easter.

Some days come and go without much ado, like drops of water from a leaky tap, but some days, like today, have something special connected to them. Some people celebrate Easter with a consummate love and passion for all that life offers us. Some find it all a bit desolate and are sometimes more lost than ever.

Some kids have an Easter egg hunt, and some go berserk and shift into chocolate-greed mode and tear the house apart.

Some kids are cool and make their mothers and sometimes their fathers cute Easter cards made from cut-out scraps of coloured paper.

Some grandparents shoot the moon and buy their grandchildren bright, new clothes, and sometimes someone gets another someone something particularly fancy, like a new bike, a fancy hat, or a silver spoon.

Some families share a dinner of something delicious, sometimes a turkey, although some are sick of turkey from Christmas and prefer a glazed ham.

Some single dads are content to spend some of their half-day with their kids at some fast food restaurant, sometimes McDonald's, and sometimes some place a little more special like the IHOP, where the other single dads and their kids go, and some single dads never see their kids at all.

Some folks enjoy the company of relatives and eat and drink and shout "Cheers" or "Hallelujah" when they toast one another with the clink of wine glasses.

Some are content to be by themselves, have toast and jam, and watch TV all day, and some people think that is sad without realising that sometimes those who live alone are happier that way.

Some do get a little wistful, a little nostalgic, and spend the day entertaining the blues because all they can think about are the "good ol' days" when they had true friends and some really good times before their hair fell out, their loved ones checked out, and their hearts grew sore with despair.

Some people celebrate religious stuff, and some ignore all that. Some go to communion, and some just spend the weekend at a family reunion. Some feel blessed by the blood of Christ, and some feel depressed because their faith left them when someone close, like a daughter or a son, a mother or a brother, maybe died a long time ago, or maybe not so long ago, some from a disease like cancer and some from a throw-of-the-dice genetic flaw that was ticking quietly like a pipe bomb and just waiting for some careless moment to blow up a life and spit the shrapnel of hurt and anger into the hearts of some unsuspecting family. So some blame God, and some skip the celebration of resurrection completely, because somehow it doesn't ring true any more. Some remain faithful and continue to feel nourished by their faith, and some just wish life had been maybe a little kinder.

Some of us are lucky to share full and complete lives. Some of us are simply waiting for some kind of miracle, like maybe winning some lottery, while some simply wish for something or anything hopeful.

All this on a day to celebrate how some man, long ago, died but didn't die. Some trick, for sure, but not a magician's trick at all, just some kind of something that some us understand while some of us have never really been able to guess at the meaning of how some of our life, even after death, is always carried forward in the mind and the heart of someone else.

So wherever you are and whatever your situation, here's hoping that, today, you have a Happy Easter, even though it's important to remember that you can't measure happiness by what a single day brings, no matter how "special" that day may seem. Every day is special, and you're special every day.