Annie-gram 34: Easter Blessings

Hello dear ones & Happy Easter to those who celebrate!

Easter is indeed one of my favorite holidays. I am a Spring girl, truly an April baby. I live for the newness of life, the verdant green grass & leaves after the rain, the ecstatic joy of the blooming flowers & trees. I love when all the chocolates are shaped like bunnies & eggs & flowers. I love pastels.

I was born just a couple days after Easter & my birthday has been on Easter at least twice that I can remember. Growing up, my family would head up to my Dad’s hometown to celebrate with his family & because my aunt & cousin have late March birthdays, we would have a joint birthday party on Easter Sunday & hunt for eggs in my Grandma’s lush garden.

This year I got a house for my birthday, which was on Thursday! Matt & I closed on our first house on Friday. I am so looking forward to being there, finally nesting, & making it feel cozy before we bring our sweet baby home.

We are grateful to bust out of the cycle of renting, which is getting less affordable by the year. Our house is not the fanciest house. Our 100 year old house. It needs love & time & attention - but tell me, what good thing doesn’t?

At the park this week, we discovered a nest of goose eggs at the base of the oak tree under which we got married. First one on Sunday. Then another on Wednesday.

In some ways, I’m pretty sure I’m not where I thought I’d be at age 35, but I think what matters is that I try to be where I am now. We miss so much when we look back instead of forward.

We did our final walk-through in the house on Thursday night. On the way to our house, Matt played a Conor Oberst song called, “Cape Canaveral.” He wanted to hear the line, “You taught me victory is sweet even deep in the cheap seats.”

We may be in the cheap seats, but we’re rich in love, in hope, & in a community of family & friends that supports us.

I hope today, there’s some chocolate, some birdsong, maybe even a bit of frolicking in store for you. Today, Christians believe that death is defeated. “O grave, where is thy victory?” reads a nearby church sign, quoting Corinthians.

In his poem “From Blossoms,” poet Li-Young Lee writes:

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

Until next week,

Annie

Goose eggs under our wedding tree <3 It’s nesting time!!

Soundtrack:

“Cape Canaveral” by Conor Oberst