Easter - The Son Rises and The Sun Shines

     Was Easter joyful this year? Well, we celebrated the Resurrection at Mass with beautiful psalms and uplifting hymns. Thankfully we still have Mom for yet another holiday, and visited her at the nursing home. Afterward, we spent the balmy, sunny afternoon outside - dividing some perennials, filling the hummer feeders, and later enjoying the Cardinal game and a few drinks with sis and her hubby. All this and the fact that I have always loved holidays should have made the day joyful but I slept little that night, fighting tears that came unbidden.
     When my mother was a child, she visited at her grandparents' on the holidays - when I was young, my family did the same. My son and his cousins always made an appearance at their grandma's. I always looked forward to the day when I would be the grandma and the kids would gather at my house. Yesterday, in the neighborhood all around us, were families visiting their parents and/or grandparents, and the house behind us was quiet because that young family was off to do the same. I am a grandmother, yet our house was quiet. The gifts and candy for the grandchildren remain on the dining room table. My son and his wife want 'new' traditions - I respect their right but I feel a great loss at the absence of the people I love most in this world.