We were fortunate enough to pick one of the greatest weekends for a get-away. I had not realized that this was Easter weekend before planning a trip to see the new home of one of my good Cal mama friends. Fortunately, she and her family had not planned any Easter fun away from home, so we were more than welcomed to come and join them for some Easter traditions and a feast. We loaded up the car and made the 2 hour drive in the rain. Having made only one wrong turn, we arrived to curbside smiles and hugs. Its been a whole month since the big move, and although my mama friend and I have did lunch and hung out on campus since then, our kids have not seen each other at all. They went from spending every day together, to being separated. They definitely made up for lost time this weekend by losing themselves in their own special humor, lego building, video game playing, movie watching, minimal bickering and endless laughter.

Since I had no idea that Easter was so close, I had not planned anything. No basket, no church service, no Easter dinner, no Easter nothing, but my friend and her in-laws had everything covered. We went shopping for goodies and an Easter basket so that I could make one for Miss J. This would be my first time making a personalized Easter basket for her, and I really enjoyed it. I think its something that I will want to do from now on. On Easter morning, she got to open her basket with her friend.

And after a delicious brunch, we were inducted into their family egg hunt, which isn't your normal frolicking through grass to recover eggs. Aside from the fact that the rain kept us indoors, this egg hunt consisted of hiding all the components of each other's baskets, running around to find them hidden throughout the house, and then coming together at the end to enjoy our booty. It was great and a bunch of fun.

This past Easter weekend, Miss J and I went to an event that is held each year in the Bay Area called Eggster. We enjoyed checking out all the booths that were set up on the UC Berkeley campus, which provided artistic activities and cool science projects and information. Cal's Student Parent Association for Recruitment & Retention, also known as SPARR, even coreographed a moonwalk station for the kids that encouraged them to collect as many moon rocks as they could (which were really silver painted plastic eggs filled with treats). I trailed Miss J, arms overflowing with art project after art project, and mini basket of plastic egg after plastic egg, as she gathered with friends and had her knowledge tested on dental hygiene at a booth that was giving free floride treatments to the children and another booth that had human organs on display.

Miss J was fascinated with the two lungs and the two very different livers that lie in a tray in a shallow bath. She put on two latex gloves and identified which of the livers was healthy and which of the lungs was unhealthy. Falling even more deeply fascinated with her discovery of the connection between the unhealthiness of the lung and smoking. I've had these talks with her before about smoking and its affects, as she has tried to understand why, if smoking is so bad, that her aunt does it. Well, she got a chance to school asked her.

As if I had not already eatten enough ham, greens, yams, potato salad, corn bread muffins and banana pudding at my own house during Easter dinner, I whipped up a couple of plates and headed over to my sister in-law's house to collect some of her bbq ribs... which I had every intention on saving for the next day, but instead ended up savoring later that night. Anyhoo... as we were gearing up to leave, my sister in-law and a cousin decided to light up their cigarettes. Miss J advanced toward them talking and I began to over talking her, saying, "uh uh, come back this way. Talk to your Lee Lee from over here." As Miss J continued, my sister in-law couldn't make out what she was saying above the music and laughter that was going on in the house. So, I asked Miss J to tell me what she was trying to tell her aunt.

Miss J: Um... you remember the black stuff?

Me: Black stuff? What black stuff?

Miss J: From smoking?

Me: Oh! Yes (I say with a smile)

She turned and proceeded to tell her aunt about how, if she continued to smoke a lot, then her lungs were gonna be all black and brown and mushy and nasty, because smoking isn't healthy. And when you smoke your lungs become unhealthy. My sister in-law thought this information was hilarious coming from a soon-to-be 6 year old, and told her that what she had said was very true... then continued to puff on her cigarette.

I hope that everyone has a happy and very blessed Easter Sunday. Seems like each year our holidays stray further and further from family tradition, but all is well, once the family matriarch dies, often so does family tradition. Instead of spending my morning in a Sunday service I'll be spending it cuddled up in bed. And instead of my grandmother slaving over the stove trying to cook a meal while hoping that all of her ungrateful children will join together as one big happy loving family, I'll in turn, do the slaving just for her and never think twice about those who just don't matter as much anymore.