Sunday, March 27, 2016

How To Have Easter


Pass the babies around the table, kiss them good and snorgle them up. Eat the ham and dolmades and deviled eggs and greens and carrots from Mermer's garden along with the asparagus and gouda tart, the pineapple and cheese casserole, the hummus, the mac and cheese, the bread, the rolls, the key lime pie. Declare this to be the perfect Easter menu. Because it is.


Challenge Gibson and the tiny fairy-girl Lenore to a hugging competition. Judge on tightness of squeeze and tolerance of kisses. Declare them both to be winners. Let August kiss my face and make blubbering noises. Watch him as Jessie lets Uncle Hank offer him a lemon slice for the first time.


Laugh as he grimaces and then brings the lemon back to his mouth again and again for the same outcome. Admire his brown wide-wale corduroy Oshkosh overalls that go with his brown wide-open eyes, his curly black lashes, his sweet slobber on my face, the smacky sound as we pop open-mouth kisses.

Take the granddaughter as often as possible and feed her bottles. Lie on the bed with her where she was born and admire her very presence and beauty. Watch the daddies hold and play with their babies and see the pride and love in their eyes and know that this is perfection.



Rejoice in the renewed health of our friends. 


Explain to Owen about the difference between blood relatives and heart relatives when he asks you. 


Admire the Lego chick that Uncle Mark helped Owen make. Hug Mark as much as possible. Tell him over and over again how glad you are that he is there. 

Kiss the newly-weds, be glad for it all. 

Come home and continue the count-down until the Nurse Practitioner appointment tomorrow. Try to explain to your husband why you are so anxious. Say something about how you can't stand the idea of anyone looking inside of your body to find your hidden secrets which are your own to keep. Play cards, get your ass whipped. Pet the cats and feed them treats. Clean up the kitchen and find six sea scallops in the freezer to thaw and cook. 
Drink a martini. 
Discover that Jim Harrison has died. Remember the night you saw him read at a local dive where he was burly and boisterous and drunk and didn't give one goddammed shit. Think about the night you were reading his poems on the beach at St. George Island. 

Accept that the rain still falls. 

Drink another martini. 

Continue to remember that by this time tomorrow, the appointment will be long done. 

Try to give yourself some wise and calm mother-love. Remember that you are a grown-ass woman. 

Look up to realize that the sky has grown a strange color of peach and purple. 


Remember that you have a stashed and cherished Ativan to get you through tomorrow's appointment. 
Be fucking grateful for every damn bit of it. 

Go cook the scallops. 

Love...Ms. Moon 




9 comments:

  1. Oh if I lived in Lloyd I just know I'd be Aunt Jo because I am so in love with your family. My heart melts every time I see Hank holding a baby. And just everyone, they are so full of love. Happy Easter Ms. Moon. I'll be thinking if you as you get thru tomorrow.

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  2. Perfection indeed! I will be thinking of you tomorrow. I have the same panic at going to doctors or dentists. Gail

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  3. Sounds like a perfect Easter. And I often use that trick you described to reduce my appointment-fear - tell myself it will be over in 24 hours, in three hours, in one hour. It helps some.

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  4. Ah, yes, lots of purple :)

    I'm sorry your appointment was the day after Easter. It's a holiday here. I hope the day helped take your mind off it. It sounds likea wonderful party!

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  5. you know what I like about this post? that it could be any day of the year for you and your family. it just happened to be Easter this time.

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  6. Once again, like so many of your days, that sounds like a great day. I love that picture of August trying the lemon. Priceless! Someday he'll get such a laugh out of that.

    I need to read some Jim Harrison someday. I had a roommate in college who was really into him, but somehow I never quite got there. SO MUCH to read!

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  7. Joanne- Thank you! Honestly, you do feel like part of the family.

    Gail- It's a horrible thing, isn't it? This medical fear?

    jenny_o- It does help. It sets the eye on a farther place.

    Jo- It was another sweet family gathering. It really was.

    Ellen Abbott- Exactly! We do tend to get together a lot. I am so grateful that it doesn't require a holiday to make that happen.

    Steve Reed- Well, Harrison is not for everyone and sometimes I'm not sure he's for me but he has a style that is all his own and that's for sure.
    Next time we'll let August eat a dill pickle.

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  8. XO. That appointment is over by now. Good. Hope you are doing well..

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  9. Oh, that picture of Hand and Magnolia! Those two appear to be Kindred Spirits.

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