Wow, is it April 13th already? Where have I been? First off, with my parents back in town, a couple of days were spent going to doctor appointments with my mom. I'm happy to report that all is good! Heart, gall bladder and pancreas are all holding their own for now and we get a reprieve for another six months. I'll take it!
Due to snow and cold temperatures last week, all of the boys' baseball games were cancelled--thank you God. The timing worked out well and gave me some time to recover from being other places. On Tuesday of last week, when I was at an appointment with my mom, I literally felt the exact moment a cold arrived in my body. I'm not kidding. It's like it had a reservation. I kept thinking my throat was dry, and then eventually realized I was getting a sore throat. Later that night, I was boning up on the vitamin C and putting Zycam in my nose, but it was too late. Apparently I snored way too loud for Ed's liking that night. Since then it's developed into a cough and now I have a raspy voice (just call me Demi) which means I won't be doing a lot of talking. The family is delighted with that turn of events. And for all of my friends on Facebook who went to warm and wonderful places over their break, stop telling me how hot and sunny it is there--Sharyl!
I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend. The Tigers did, beginning with their home opener on Good Friday (don't you think every Friday is a "good" Friday? I do.) We had my family over for dinner. It is the first time my family has been together for Easter in many, many years since my parents (and my immediate family) are usually in Florida at this time. Afterwards, we sat around my lap top and looked at the myriads of digital photos I've accumulated over the years from family gatherings that I never share with anyone. As a kid, I can remember our family gathering together to watch slides--not sure if that was at our house or Uncle Rod's. Inevitably, at least every fifth slide was put in upside down or sideways. Nowadays, you can watch the slide show on the lap top or plug it in to your TV. Good times.
Has anyone else noticed lately how religion sure seems to be interfering with these long holiday weekends? First, many catholics were upset that the Tigers played at 1:00 on Good Friday, which would interfere with afternoon church services. Comerica Park did, however, serve fish and chips along with the usual hot dogs and pizza.
On Saturday evening, Aunt Mary and I took a run up to a new store that recently opened in Canton, called Hobby Lobby. Think of it as a Home Goods, Joann Fabrics, and Michael's all rolled into one and on steroids. Amazing and overwhelming! Anyway, Saturday night we're thinking "Let's run up there and look around," right? Wrong. We walk in at 7:57 p.m. and probably spend two minutes alone standing and gawking at stuff upon entering the doors. As we start to walk through the store, someone comes on over the PA system and announces "Attention Hobby Lobby shoppers, the store is now closed. Please bring all your purchases up to the front of the store for checkout." We stared at each other in disbelief. What!? It's only 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday night? They're closing now? What planet is this? So, instead of walking directly to the front door to leave, we quickly (VERY quickly) breezed through the store on our way to the front door. As we neared the exit, we encountered an employee walking by. We jokingly asked her, "Why the heck is this store closing at 8:00 on a Saturday night?" She smiled and said "Do you really want to know why we're closing?" I thought, "uh, yeah...I do now, especially if there's some special reason." Aunt Mary kiddingly said "So you can go home and be with your families?" The employee said "That's exactly why. Hobby Lobby is a christian-based company and we close at 8:00 p.m. every night and we are closed on Sundays so we can be with our families." To which I chuckled "Well, we're going to go shop next door at that heathen store, Home Goods."
As we left the store, we were in shock. I guess we had become so accustomed to everything being open all the time, we weren't used to be told "It's time to get out of here. We're all done taking your money." The next day, Easter Sunday, when we gathered together again, we were telling the rest of the family about our experience. We ultimately decided "Good for them." We reminisced about days long, long ago when many stores were regularly not open on Sundays.
It's kind of funny how Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus, is the ultimate holiday of all. There's no question that the majority of businesses will be closed on Christmas day. But Easter, which marks the resurrection of Jesus, (which in my opinion rising from the dead is just as great of a miracle as a child being born due to an immaculate conception) is not viewed to be quite as sacred to some. Many businesses are open regular hours and many people associate Easter with going on spring break rather than celebrating with their extended families. For some, there is no celebration--it's just another Sunday. It's just interesting to observe how there are such varied perspectives on this particular religious holiday.
So, however you spent your Easter, shopping, visiting with relatives, or sunning on the beach, I hope it was blessed and peaceful. If you happened to be on the beach this year, I hope you got fried!
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