Easters of yesteryear
Easter is right around the corner. The older I get the faster the time seems to go. It feels like just yesterday we were getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas.
This year I will surprise my Mom with a corsage for Easter. I remember growing up, Mom always had this ginormous corsage that would cover her entire upper body, or so it seemed to me back in the day. Of course it really didn’t but from my short-legged perspective, always having to look up, everything always seemed bigger than it really was. All of us girls always had a small corsage to wear; sometimes it was a pin on and sometimes it was the wrist variety. Mom had the roses and we had the carnations. To this day, roses and carnations are still two of my favorite flowers.
The yearly ritual preparing for Easter Sunday was always the same. We had to be in bed extra early to allow enough time for Mr. Bunny to stuff seven baskets. I had to wash and roll my almost waist length hair in sponge curlers and set out my Easter outfit that always included a light colored dress, frilly anklet socks, shiny white shoes, an Easter bonnet and of course, white gloves. I can still remember my absolute favorite Easter basket. We lived on Carabel Avenue in Lakewood, Ohio and I am guessing I was probably six or seven years old. I had tiptoed down the stairs ahead of everyone else and I peeked at the dining room table hoping to spot my basket and its contents before anyone else was up and about. Our house was a modest size and our dining room was located between the front living room and the back piano room, right next to the kitchen so it really was impossible not to get caught. Sort of like one of those one way in, one way out routes. And then I spied it ... sitting up on the edge of the dining room table, just out of my reach. (Some things never change, but I digress) … I clearly remember seeing something white and frilly stuffed in the back of my basket behind the chocolate bunny and all the yellow and pink and white marshmallow chicks and mini chocolate Easter eggs all sitting atop the green Easter grass. I could hardly contain my excitement! I then snuck back up the stairs and slid quietly back into bed, just certain that Mom and Dad had zero clue their perfect little angel had been sneaking around the house. Of course all these years later, I suspect my parents did catch me peeking but they never let on if they did. Oh, and that white, frilly thing turned out to be a beautiful white blouse. I was the most grown up first grader ever because I wore my new white stylish blouse to school on Monday morning. My shirt days were over and I had graduated to blouses. Special memories….Sincerely, Cindy.
