Hopeful waiting.
It’s the day before Easter and I’m sitting at our kitchen table at the Cape. The house is quiet in a way that it is almost never quiet.
Nick and Grace went to run errands, picking up bird seed and putting air in our running stroller tires. Baby Nick is napping. And Clark is perched on a side table (definitely not allowed, but I’m not in a rule enforcing mood), keeping watch over the neighborhood.
As soon as Nick was asleep, I started checking items off my list. We have family coming down for the holiday and I am buzzing with excitement. I set out our dishes and started thinking about what would go where. I rearranged items in the fridge and pretended like I had functioning spacial relations skills (I don’t). I contemplated ironing the tablecloths, but
- LOL, NO.
- I don’t think we have an iron at this house
I was four or five items in on the list when something grabbed my attention– a bird chirping in the yard or a neighbor out walking (our weekend life on the Cape is so different from our regular life in the city).
I decided to scrap the list (for now) and just listen.
There are so many pieces (big and small) of the Easter story to meditate and pray on that I think I could start and never be done (and for sure, my list would remain unfinished). But it’s the hopeful waiting that I’m feeling especially aware of today– the way that faith can carry us forward because we know there is good to be found (and celebrated), the way it can help us transform times of worry, anxiety, stress or restlessness.
I have such a tendency to fill the time, as if doing, doing, doing would speed us along to the next thing. (Though most often, it feels as if life is speeding ahead and I’m hanging on to the tailgate… and not in a cool, like, stunt-person-on-a-skateboard way.) When was the last time you really sat still? It seems like a luxury, I know. But is it?
I sat in that place of hopeful waiting for some time (I lost track… mostly because I had also lost my phone, which also serves as my clock… and like 900 other things).
The baby will be waking up soon, and Grace and Nick will be bounding in the door shortly. Clark may or may not fall off the side table in excitement. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew will be arriving soon too, and the house will be filled with happy noise. It will be even more full tomorrow.
Eventually I’ll get around to labeling which food goes on which platter (I’m not ready to show my entire deck of neurotic cards just yet). I’ll head out to the store, finish stuffing the eggs for tomorrow’s hunt, and go for a run. We will help Grace dye her eggs (they’ve finally cooled down) and watch her attempt to play fetch with Clark as Nick trails behind them.
I might feel the day getting ahead of (or away from) me, but there is still so much to look forward to… so I will come back to that place of hopeful waiting. And the place of no ironing, too.
Wishing you and yours a very happy and healthy Passover, Easter + Springtime.
Also On Tap for Today:
- Were Hot Cross Buns the First Food Fad? from Food52
- An old On Tap favorite: S’mores made with homemade gluten free graham crackers.. and Peeps!
- Reading this book with Grace and dying over the illustrations
What’s on your mind today?
