Inspiration

I went and celebrated Easter in 1979 with my daughter Ann and her family in Mountain Lakes. Dick and their son Nick came to pick me up, about four in the afternoon. We had supper at their house. Ann had made fresh French bread. It was tasty. We had it with our meal. At 8:00 p.m. we went to the candlelight Easter vigil service. The church was full. It was beautiful. It lasted two hours.

On Easter morning Ann put a good size turkey in the oven, and she made all the fancy food that goes with it. The two older daughters made pies and cookies. We had our regular hard boiled eggs and Easter bread with butter with our breakfast. Ann made the Easter bread herself with four colored eggs on top. The table was set very decoratively; everyone's place had a gift. The children were all happy with what they got as gifts. I received as a gift two large eggs that opened up and had a note, “Good things come in small packages.” I opened them and there was ten dollars in each egg. I was surprised. I kissed Ann and Dick and thanked them; they said they wanted me to buy something nice for myself. I bought a lovely navy blue raincoat.

Ann then set the dining room table. I peeled potatoes, washed lettuce, made carrot sticks and celery filled with cream cheese. I washed the strawberries. We had dinner at 2:00 p.m. Ann's mother-in-law and sister-in-law were also there for Easter dinner. Ann made fresh blueberry muffins to go with the meal. The food was delicious. We sat at the table and had all kinds of conversation.

My son-in-law got up and came back with a manuscript for a book his mother had written. The book is called A Grain of Sand. It is about her life and her nine children. Her husband died about 22 years ago. She wrote her book when she was 80 years old. She is now 83. She is not in the best of health, but she is a very cheerful person to talk to. Her book will be published in about a month. I think she is very smart to be able to write a book about her life. She got married when she was 16 years old. She had her first baby when she just turned 17. She had hardly anything when she got married. Now she is blessed with nine children: three boys and six girls. They are all married except for one daughter, Marie, who lives with her. Marie puts designs on materials and has a business of her own. All of her children are educated and have beautiful homes. She is good to them all. She is blessed with 40 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. My daughter Ann loves her.

Ann, Dick, and three of the children drove me home. We stopped at Carmela's for coffee and cake. We had a very lovely Easter.