a wonderful dinner

there's been a ton of things on my mind lately.
things about life and living and what's valuable and what matters
and how i feel about it all and how i feel about me and just a whole
lotta stuff........

so while truly needing a holiday break like easter -
it just kinda slipped right on up here.

i like easter even tho i'm not christian.
i like the hope and the magic and the possibilities.
and right now seemed like a great time to be holding some of that.

but it got here so fast, and i was so overwhelmed with other stuff,
i wasn't as prepared as i normally am.

i did manage to fill an easter basket full of goodies, complete with jelly beans.

but actually plan a lotta food?
nah.
we were even making plans the nite before as to make sure we knew which
house we were all gathering at.

but we mostly managed to gather.
while there was a big hole left open as my guy had to work,
the rest of us gathered to goof, banter, talk, and be.

the actual meal that took place left a pretty cool impression on me.

no one cared.
we weren't there for the food.
we were there because we had missed each other and we wanted to catch up.
more than one of us was too worn out to think a lot about what we prepared,
let alone prepare it.

being trained in the mom department for so long, i did have SOME food.
i don't think i'd know how not to. but when i asked a son if he noticed if was
done yet, neither one of us jumped up in a really big hurry when he said
'yeah, i think it's burning.'

so yeah, part of it got over-cooked. and then part of something else someone
else was cooking got burned. really burned apparently. i never did see it,
just heard it get carried outside quickly. and the laughter that went along with it.

we sat at a table covered with egg dye, and eggs and snacks and darts and stuff.
we pushed stuff outta the way, sat down with what we had grabbed at the counter
and talked about what we thought about easter.

we talked about life and death and hope and despair and pain and growing and
light and darkness.

and i had one of the best meals ever.

i've been thinking a lot about what counts. so the timing was nice.
it was so darn cool to see so clearly that the dinner really had very little to do with the food.

and everything to do with the love.

it's a lesson that i'm pretty sure can be transferred to any part of life.
and it's not that complicated a lesson.
and yet one i need to remember over and over again.

toasting that dinner, the dessert of jelly beans afterwards,
and the company that teaches me again and again what living is all about.