I know this is coming more than a week after Easter but it is never too late for a recap.
I started the Sunday going to River Oak Grace Church, where I got to attend my first outdoor service; they had it at their outside theatre where we all got to bring our own chairs creating a really cool experience. It was colder than I thought so we tried to pick a spot where we had the most sun, and of course we did for a few minutes before the sun did its thing and kept on moving. I got to experience it all with my dad, my best friend, and her boyfriend. My best friend also sang on the worship team that morning so it was nice to be able to support her as well.
After church my dad and I went and picked up my grandma and we began our short road trip to Hollister, CA to enjoy the rest of Easter at my brother’s house with his girlfriend and her family.
My grandma has been through many major back surgeries in the past couple years so she can’t really go and visit her grand and great grandkids as often as she would like, so being able to have our help with her wheelchair and walker made it possible for her to see my brother’s new house and get some air that is not just in the house.
My brother and his girlfriend made an amazing dinner that consisted of prime rib roast, garlic mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans with onions and garlic.
I think the highlight of that evening was actually when we all sat in the living room and I put on a Netflix show called “Is It Cake?” just to fill the silence and to give my grandma something to watch, and we all ended up getting into it and working together to guess which item was cake! We watched a couple episodes and it kind of brought us all together and gave us something to laugh about.
After that we all drove back home but made time during the car ride to do some karaoke, me and my grandma love to sing together, her go to genre is old country western, and mine is musical theatre or alternative rock and roll.
When I got dropped off I crashed so hard once I touched my bed even though I slept some on the way there and back. Sleep is love, sleep is life.
I wish that I could have spent Easter in the ways that my family used to. When my mom lived in California, she would always have it at her house, and my two older brothers and I would always go over for her grown up egg hunt. She would take the time to do scavenger hunts with clues hidden everywhere just for us to go outside and inside her house and find eggs. She would hide money, of course, and other interesting treats, but just having all my siblings together and my mom made the day worth it.
My other brother who we did not see on Easter Sunday lives in Missouri with his family and my mom lives in Vegas, so it was hard not having everyone together, but we got through it.
I think that Easter is a holiday for pastels, colored eggs, candy, family gatherings, and for the religious folks, a huge church service.
Many families take Easter for all it is, and uses that day as an effort to connect with family and friends. To many, family is all they have, it is the most important thing to them. To others, they may loathe the day they have to spend with family.
No matter how people spent Easter, as long as they did not get a confetti-filled egg to the head, I call that a win.
Sarah Lawson is a staff reporter for The Oakdale Leader, The Escalon Times and The Riverbank News; she can be reached at slawson@oakdaleleader.com.