The Rabbit Died

No, I'm not pregnant... for those of you who relate dying rabbits to pregnancy. But the Easter Bunny died. Only Bear has any shred of belief left. Chick obviously hasn't believed in quite some time but I think this year was totally the last possible year for Buddy.

In some respects, I'm glad. The older I get, the older my kids get, the more I feel the tremendous responsibility and desire to have us celebrate the Christian Easter with Jesus and the resurrection and the meaning behind it all instead of the pagan Easter with bunnies and chicks and presents. We do celebrate that way - going to church and talking about Jesus and reading the story from the bible, but it seems to be sort of just an underlying current instead of the main purpose. It's been mostly dying eggs and eating chocolate and finding hidden presents. So now that my kids are not so Bunny oriented, it's good they have a more solid purpose to turn their beliefs to. So now Easter can be lighthearted fun without having to be full of lies and secrecy and we can focus on a more intrinsic reason for celebrating this day.

We are alone today, just the 5 of us. Last Easter was with my Uncle, just weeks before he died. At that time we didn't know we had so little time left with him. The year before that we were complaining about being so far away from our "family" at a holiday time. It's funny how things work out. We spent so many years wishing we could be with our family and then once we were, all issues of grief and loss aside, it wasn't ANYTHING like we'd longed for. Our 18 months on the West Coast was quite an eye opener. This Easter I can truly understand a sense of rebirth for my own self and for what it means to me to have my eyes opened. I am happy here, family or not. Although I may always ache for a large extended family to gather round at a holiday time, I am glad I got the chance to see that what I thought I wanted was right in my hands the whole time: family that really cares about you. It doesn't have to be 20 people, it can be just my husband and kids and that will be enough.

Happy Easter. Happy Renewal, happy Spring and rebirth and regrowth and daffodils and tulips and baby chicks. Happy resurrection and eternal life. Happy ever after....

D