What doesn't kill you.....
Another spring holiday has come and gone. After the harrowing week of random attacks of illness in my house, a few not so minor changes, and standardized testing...we needed more than a few days to breathe. You wanna talk about rebirth??? Yeah. We got some rebirth going on here.
Our little family walked into Ostara (Easter) holiday with some heavy hearts, frazzled minds, and aching bodies. The Girl has been raising money for school trips and whatnot as well as battling the last standardized test of her elementary career. While I was moving and cleaning up the rest of the house, she had officially taken over the bigger of the two secondary bedrooms. No easy feat for a teenage girl who has a TON of stuff. Honey wound up with medical issues ranging from infection to kidney stones all in the course of 3 days. Never have I seen a man so exhausted or in pain. In the midst of the insanity, the Boy came back to stay with us for a while till he gets his own path figured out. Mama hung on as long as she could. I did finally crack after about 8 days of going full tilt. Unfortunately for me, Honey wasn't in the frame of mind to catch me, exhaustion will do that to a person. That's OK. We got it all worked out and ended up in a local haunt tearing into our first crawfish of the season.
While we were waiting outside for our number to come up, I watched the folks around me. The restaurant is a favorite in town for their seafood and Sunday bar-be-que. Because crawfish tend to be on the expensive side, we haven't made them a habit in the last couple of years. Well Good Friday evening, while others were on their 4th or 10th meal, we showed up for our first. From the mamaw in her comfy dress to the after work crowd still in khakis and nice shirts, the mix of folks was (as always) diverse. There were ladies waiting with little glasses of white wine and others like me with a cold beer. The instant we were seated he and I had already planned how much to get for the three of us (Boy was off doing his thing), 5 lbs for himself and 5 for the Girl and I to split. Last time we did this that was more than enough for she and I, I get tired of peeling them and fill up pretty quickly. She ended up finishing the order that time. This year was a little different. As she and I worked our way through the big bowl of steamy critters, I quickly realized...we were going to kill of that order. And that's exactly what we did, at the end of it all I was munching Honey's corn cob and she was cracking and picking apart the claws left in the bottom of the bowl.
There was something soul satisfying about that particular meal. I'm not one who falls in love with food. I truly wish I was. I don't have an intimate relationship with what I eat. That night, however, the scent of the crab boil, the intermixture of beer and seafood, the lighting, the den of laughter and *snap* of the crawfish shells....it set us (me) back to rights.
The common concept with Easter and Ostara is the resurrection of the Son/Sun. In Christian verse Jesus goes through his passion: the trial, the beating, and finally crucifixion. Only to be risen 3 days later to ascend to Heaven. For the Pagans it's the return of all things new, healthy, and young. Just as the Son arises to clean the slate for his followers and make a new beginning each year, so does the Sun. The world is made new again, youth abounds, and fresh starts are on the horizon. As my mother so eloquently put it once a long time ago: every new birth is painful. Each time someone goes through a change, even if it looks small but mighty, there is some form of birth process. One has to let go of what was and look on what is and what will be. That's very hard in some cases because not all changes are good at that exact moment. They may become less painful or even great over time, but there are points when it really sucks.
This spring we welcome a new baby into our circle of friend and family. Honey and I also prepare ourselves to adjust to new schedules and a busier house. Spring is a month in and I am preparing to reenter school, my child is preparing for high school, and my step child is preparing himself for real life free of hand outs and strings attached. It's not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Honey and I are still dealing with growing pains and learning how to live together after so many years of being with persons each our opposite. I know there are a lot of lessons still to learn for he and I but we're getting there, slowly but surely.
After our hellish week, I took off to greener pastures (literally) and got my feet a little dirty. A fly by night trip north of the piney woods to dye eggs with my favorite not so littles, and hug my sister. Even Honey and I need break from each other once in a while. One backyard fire and a few cold drinks later, I felt like me again. Breathers taken. Issues dealt with. Literal and figurative laundry hung out to dry.
Time to reset.
)O(
Our little family walked into Ostara (Easter) holiday with some heavy hearts, frazzled minds, and aching bodies. The Girl has been raising money for school trips and whatnot as well as battling the last standardized test of her elementary career. While I was moving and cleaning up the rest of the house, she had officially taken over the bigger of the two secondary bedrooms. No easy feat for a teenage girl who has a TON of stuff. Honey wound up with medical issues ranging from infection to kidney stones all in the course of 3 days. Never have I seen a man so exhausted or in pain. In the midst of the insanity, the Boy came back to stay with us for a while till he gets his own path figured out. Mama hung on as long as she could. I did finally crack after about 8 days of going full tilt. Unfortunately for me, Honey wasn't in the frame of mind to catch me, exhaustion will do that to a person. That's OK. We got it all worked out and ended up in a local haunt tearing into our first crawfish of the season.
 |
| Dwight's Restaurant |
While we were waiting outside for our number to come up, I watched the folks around me. The restaurant is a favorite in town for their seafood and Sunday bar-be-que. Because crawfish tend to be on the expensive side, we haven't made them a habit in the last couple of years. Well Good Friday evening, while others were on their 4th or 10th meal, we showed up for our first. From the mamaw in her comfy dress to the after work crowd still in khakis and nice shirts, the mix of folks was (as always) diverse. There were ladies waiting with little glasses of white wine and others like me with a cold beer. The instant we were seated he and I had already planned how much to get for the three of us (Boy was off doing his thing), 5 lbs for himself and 5 for the Girl and I to split. Last time we did this that was more than enough for she and I, I get tired of peeling them and fill up pretty quickly. She ended up finishing the order that time. This year was a little different. As she and I worked our way through the big bowl of steamy critters, I quickly realized...we were going to kill of that order. And that's exactly what we did, at the end of it all I was munching Honey's corn cob and she was cracking and picking apart the claws left in the bottom of the bowl.
There was something soul satisfying about that particular meal. I'm not one who falls in love with food. I truly wish I was. I don't have an intimate relationship with what I eat. That night, however, the scent of the crab boil, the intermixture of beer and seafood, the lighting, the den of laughter and *snap* of the crawfish shells....it set us (me) back to rights.
 |
| crawfish lake in central La. |
The common concept with Easter and Ostara is the resurrection of the Son/Sun. In Christian verse Jesus goes through his passion: the trial, the beating, and finally crucifixion. Only to be risen 3 days later to ascend to Heaven. For the Pagans it's the return of all things new, healthy, and young. Just as the Son arises to clean the slate for his followers and make a new beginning each year, so does the Sun. The world is made new again, youth abounds, and fresh starts are on the horizon. As my mother so eloquently put it once a long time ago: every new birth is painful. Each time someone goes through a change, even if it looks small but mighty, there is some form of birth process. One has to let go of what was and look on what is and what will be. That's very hard in some cases because not all changes are good at that exact moment. They may become less painful or even great over time, but there are points when it really sucks.
This spring we welcome a new baby into our circle of friend and family. Honey and I also prepare ourselves to adjust to new schedules and a busier house. Spring is a month in and I am preparing to reenter school, my child is preparing for high school, and my step child is preparing himself for real life free of hand outs and strings attached. It's not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Honey and I are still dealing with growing pains and learning how to live together after so many years of being with persons each our opposite. I know there are a lot of lessons still to learn for he and I but we're getting there, slowly but surely.
 |
| Sunset on the highway |
After our hellish week, I took off to greener pastures (literally) and got my feet a little dirty. A fly by night trip north of the piney woods to dye eggs with my favorite not so littles, and hug my sister. Even Honey and I need break from each other once in a while. One backyard fire and a few cold drinks later, I felt like me again. Breathers taken. Issues dealt with. Literal and figurative laundry hung out to dry.
Time to reset.
)O(
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