Easter Weekend: Family Style
On my Mom’s side of the family we have never been very religious. Easter mostly serves as an excuse to come together and spend time with family that we don’t see that often. My Mom has an older sister, who has a family unit of four, and a younger brother, with a family unit of four as well. As the youngest generation grows up, not all of us will spend Easter at home, but the majority of the family shows up.
In the grandkid generation there is my older brother, myself, my younger sister, our cousin L., cousin W., cousin A., and cousin C. all together most of the time. L. spent this year with her boyfriend and his family so we were one grandkid short of a set, but she did a video call to make sure she could say hello and pass on Easter greetings.
Cousins A. and C. are the youngest, at seven (C.) and eight (A.) years old. My aunt and her husband live with them in Minnesota, so whenever they visit, I am very happy to see them. Thankfully this time around, they arrived on Friday so we got more than just one day to hang out and have fun. The girls decorated the driveway of my family’s house, since we were hosting and the weather was so nice. Seeing them draw out this massive hop scotch game reminded me of warm sunny days trying to make the biggest and longest course I could on the sidewalk/surrounding pavement. I would use as many colors as I could to make it more fun and pretty.
Obviously part of Saturday was spent coloring eggs. Each person gets one egg with their name on it, and those are saved for the next morning’s breakfast. Any additional eggs that have been hard boiled, are still colored and put away for the next morning, but they are fair game to any who are hungry. We use crayons to make designs and make sure to leave the eggs in the dye long enough to make the colors extra bold. The vinegar smell always brings back memories of past years when we would dye eggs, but it also reminds me of midsummer when we make brine for that year’s homemade pickles.
The dogs absolutely adore the weekends when we all get together as well. My family’s three, River, Maggie, and Cooper, get together with my grandparent’s dog Ruby and the pack truly enjoyed the nice sunny day we were blessed with. They were running around on the grass that is finally showing from under the melting snow, and wrestling with each other. Maggie, because she is about half the size of the other three dogs, mostly barks from the sidelines as a referee. Meal time has to be their favorite though because they are pros at puppy dog eyes. Small morsels of food make their way under the table and to some very happy puppies.
This year my aunt provided plastic eggs for an egg hunt. I helped out with hiding them in the front yard, mostly to avoid potential doggy yard bombs getting in the way. The eggs held small bouncy balls, dino skeletons, tiny unicorns, and of course candy. Over 50 eggs were hidden with various difficulty and thankfully all were found. Jokes were made that we would lose a few and find it months or even years later and laugh about it.
Easter day featured a large brunch as a celebration. My aunt and her crew had to return home that afternoon so we had decided early on to have brunch be our big meal that day. Colored eggs were surrounded by coffee cake, waffles, an egg bake, bacon, sausage, orange rolls, and topped off by fruit. If there is one thing my family can do, it is cook. Several people were asking for half servings of things because they wanted to maintain room for a taste of everything.
Family has always meant the world to me. Easter is just another reason to see them and celebrate life together. I will forever be grateful to have been blessed with such an incredible family to celebrate with.
yo07
-A small message from Maggie, who hit the keyboard with her paw as I was writing.
Distractions Please
This week I have been trying my best to keep myself distracted. Having to sit with just my thoughts would not have been too fun for the past few days. The right side of my jaw has been in quite a bit of pain and I have been doing quite a few things to not focus on it. (I have been to the dentist and I am working on getting better.) One thing that has managed to even make me laugh was a conversation that I had with my family last night. I asked a simple thought question: Do Transformers need to buy car insurance or life insurance?
My sister answered first, “They need both.”
Mom then turned to her and asked, “But then which one pays out if something happens to them?”
This started a whole string of questions and laughter. Sister thinks that the payout depends on which mode they are in when they are “injured”, car mode or robot mode. I tend to agree with her. Many other trains of thought stemmed from this overall idea. Who would get the ticket if the Transformer is in an accident? Normally it is the driver but if the car is self driving, as is the case with robot cars, does the car itself have to pay? (On a side note, do Transformers even have money? Who pays for the parts they use to repair themselves?)
Then the idea of playing chicken came up. For those who are not aware, playing chicken in cars is where you drive directly at the other person while they drive at you. Whoever swerves to the side first loses and is deemed the chicken. When it comes to Transformers playing chicken, if neither of them swerve to avoid a head on collision, and the damage is bad enough, is that considered murder? (Kind of a dark thought sorry.) Now another thought to consider, are the Transformers ever really dead? To the best of my knowledge, the majority of engines in modern times are able to be rebuilt with spare parts. And even if the full engine needs to be replaced, would that be like a heart transplant? I am guessing an argument could be made that the body of the car, as long as it can still be morphed into the robot form, is what makes a Transformer.
We had a lot of fun just asking questions and throwing out answers on this strange topic. That is just how conversation evolves when three out of the four participants have ADHD.
Thoughtful Questions
Occasionally I need to entertain myself when I don’t have my usual methods around. When the need arises, I find myself turning to what I have begun to call “Thought Questions”. These questions are usually prefaced by giving a scenario that is different from the world we know every day. My dad is often the source of these questions as well.
An example that my dad asked first and that I have asked many people in my life because I find it silly: If fish had fur instead of scales, how would they take care of their fur? Since the idea is all hypothetical, any answer can be valid.
A few answers that I have received are:
They would go to a beauty shop run by the Octopi.
They would have to convince land dwelling animals to assist them in procuring hair care products such as combs and brushes. This would also require the fish to assist each other due to the small size of many species’ fins.
They would use coral or other surrounding vegetation to serve as a comb.
They would have multiple fur dreads or mats.
Another thought question that has amused me quite often is: If you were to steal something from another person’s house, but only mildly upset the person by doing so, not actually hurt them, what would you take? Several of the answers that I have heard have made me laugh.
The plate out of the microwave
Their left shoes/half of each pair of socks
The backs to their remotes/the batteries out of them
The shoelaces out of all the shoes
Their forks/spoons
These are just a few of the questions that I have entertained myself with. Surely there are plenty more out there and I would love to hear them. Maybe it is my ADHD, but I really enjoy hearing how other people think things through and I feel like you can learn something about the person based on the answer they provide, or even if they refuse to play along.
I have found that the majority of people that I surround myself with will play along with me, and I think that is a good sign for the type of people in my life. They are willing to be silly and play a small game. What I really love is when they get passionate about their answer and discussing other people’s answers with each other.
Overall I think thought questions are a great way to learn about others, and entertain not only yourself when your options are limited.