As Easter quickly approaches I am reflecting on my Easter as a young child. My favorite Easter tradition that my parents celebrated was the infamous Jelly Bean trail. They did this every year for as far back as I can remember and I think they still do it.
The Jelly Bean trail starts out with your name on a colored egg followed by a trail of Jelly beans to hidden treasures behind the couches, chairs and tables. This was a highly anticipated event for me and almost as exciting as Christmas.
One year when I was probably six or seven, the Easter Bunny brought me a red transistor radio shack looking radio. This was the most glorious gift to date (other than the Barbie townhouse and my 1st tape recorder at Christmas) and compared to this day and age it would be the equivalent of getting a new computer for Easter. I absolutely loved this radio and I really give this gift credit to my love of music, especially 70’s music.
As I reflect more on my childhood holidays. I am amazed at what stands out in my memory. Having children of my own I wonder what they will remember and often hope that our holidays will stir up good memories like the ones my parents created for me. Now after many years I have a newfound respect for the work, time and effort my parents put into making holidays special for us. Even though I try to do the same things, I do not think we do our holidays the same justice as my parents did. My mom is great cook so the food was always exquisite and not only did it taste good it could be photographed for a famous culinary magazine. The table settings were always perfect, too (my mom likes everything to match) and I could always count on my mom’s famous broccoli and cheese casserole and the perfect green (with walnuts, and pineapple) Jell-O mold that I have convinced myself she made just for me.
My mom always believed in new clothes for Easter holidays (and she is the best clothes shopper I know) unfortunately, I did not inherit her love for dressing up and her good taste in apparel so I really miss her picking out clothes for me. My own children’s claim to fame for my mother is the great clothes she would carefully pick out for them at holidays as well. She would always explain why she picked out what color or style for each of my children, real thought went into it. They loved this. This is one of the great talents she has and the gift really was not just about clothing it was about really knowing and caring about them.
My mom has many talents but the greatest gifts she gave her children were not tangible gifts you can buy in a store. By her example she raised kids with good work ethics. She was a daycare provider and I remember her getting up at the crack of dawn to get ready for the kids that would be dropped off at our house (and even though as a child I did not appreciate her taking care of other peoples children at all) she took care of them like they were her own. That is what I look back on as phenomenal and she was so unappreciated. Taking care of children like they are your own (when they are not) is a incredable gift, she did it and she did it the best.
My mother also showed me that it was normal to go back to school in your 30’s (as she did this to attain her degree) and I do not know anything differently. She is now an established and highly respected teacher. I am proud of her for that.
We were not raised to be prejudice either, I do not know how she did that, but it is on the top ten list of things she gave to me that has tremendously helped me in my life. It might not seem like a big deal now, with all the diversity awareness but I have always had this appreciation and curiousity of other cultures and other religions other than my own.
I was also raised with what I call success blindness, I was never told there is not anything I cannot do, I just knew it. In my parents eyes, regarding competency I wasn’t a boy or a girl, I was me, and I could do whatever I wanted to do at the time I wanted to do it. I was a person.
The best gift I think both my parents gave me is the gift of making something out of nothing. I remember when they bought a little 3 bedroom ranch house in Baldwinsville, NY that needed a ton of work; they put every penny getting into that house. I didn’t know it at the time but there was a financial struggle. The best family memory (that we laugh about from that time period) is that there was one morning that my brother and I got to have bananas and Twinkies for breakfast; I thought this was the greatest thing ever! But it wasn’t for them. It was at a time they were struggling and oddly enough one of my happiest childhood memories was sitting on the ugly black tile floor with my brother in our new house eating those bananas and Twinkies. I always use the “making something out of nothing philosophy” and always think of the house on Daywood Drive that ended up being the cutest and best house on the block. This philosophy comes in handy in my business endeavors and now my warped idea of success would be to find that run down little ranch house (ya know, the one people would say “WHY did you buy that??”) and knock out all the walls and cut out half of the back of the house to put a sliding glass door in it.
My parents were young parents (as I was) and working hard to make there way in the world at that time in my life, so I look back with a great appreciation for everything they did for us at holidays and throughout different times in our life. It was simply amazing.
Even though I do not keep in touch as well as I should with them and I am enjoying life here in Silverdale, Washington, I wish I could be there with them for Easter.
This year in honor of them, I am doing the Jelly Bean trail tomorrow. Enjoy!
Happy Easter from all of us at the Kitsap County Forum!
