Easter Sunday

Last year at the Tulip Festival

This is probably the strangest Easter Sunday I can remember. There are no tulips to visit in the Skagit Valley, since everything is closed because of the coronavirus. But last year, Lily and I, with a couple of our other friends, drove down south to the Tulip Festival and had made arrangements to enjoy the tulips again this year. It was not to be. I could still order a bouquet, or buy some at the local grocery store to display for the holiday. It's just one more piece of my regular activities that has been lost for the year. I pray that we will be able to visit once again next April.

This Easter Sunday, I wake later than usual, since there is nowhere to go, nothing is open, although I suspect there were people who greeted the Easter sunrise, even if it was a solitary exercise. Or live streamed into one's living room so that people can have a virtual gathering with others instead. Today's technology gives us the possibility of joining others virtually, allowing us to keep our social distance from one another and still enjoy companionship, even if it's really very different from what we have grown to rely on. As an extrovert, I have suffered from the lack of interaction with my friends, other than an occasional FaceTime shared glass of wine with Lily. It's just not the same.

Yesterday I walked over to see the opening of the spring Farmers' Market. Instead of having a grand opening with the cabbage toss (a Bellingham tradition), it was a much more subdued event. Only 11 vendors were allowed to sell their wares, and you had to line up six feet apart. The line to enter stretched all the way around the building. Thirty people were allowed into the open area at a time, with orange cones showing where you could stand, waiting to buy your veggies. You were to point to what you wanted and the vendor would bag them up, and then you were supposed to leave. No standing around visiting was allowed, with staff wandering through the area making sure everyone was following the distancing requirements. I bought some bread from my favorite vendor and quickly left.

I am glad I checked it out, and I will happily visit again, although it's mostly to support the vendors and not because I can't live without Sophie's wonderful bread for awhile longer. I was wearing my sun hat, sunglasses, and homemade mask, so it surprised me when a friend recognized me in line and waved hello. She was one of the only people I saw who was not wearing a mask of some sort; everyone else had their nose and mouth covered, which does seem like it's mostly to protect others from possible infection and not the wearer.

Last week, I speculated that I had contracted the virus. Today, I have no symptoms, my cough is gone and I'm feeling quite healthy. I guess I'll never know whether or not I had it, unless an antibody test is developed and I am able to see if I have antibodies to coronavirus. My tiredness and cough could have been caused by many different viruses, and I never felt any difficulty breathing. But I will continue to act as if I did have it and am still contagious. It's been more than two weeks since I first developed any symptoms, but who knows how long this period will last? It's the same all over the world, with all of us trying to weather the same storm.

The world is a place that is so interconnected that what happens in another part of the world will impact us. —Anthony Fauci

Today is a time when we can reflect on our lives: the good, the bad, the indifferent. Historically, this is the time in the Christian religion that Jesus returned to life after the Crucifixion, when he was resurrected, giving hope to all that eternal life is not just a myth. This same theme is present in many different religions, not just Christianity.

There are resurrection themes in every society that has ever been studied, and it is because not just only do we fantasize about the possibility of resurrection and recovery, but it actually happens. And it happens a lot. —Sherwin B. Nuland

What will I do to mark this exceptional day? Well, the first thing is getting up, taking a shower, watering my recently planted front porch flowers, and sitting in the sunshine with a nice cup of my French press coffee. And I can remember some of the other memorable Easter Sundays in my past. There are quite a few of them. I might go for a walk in the neighborhood, enjoying the explosion of flowers blooming everywhere, and take a moment to appreciate the wonder of the season.

And of course, there is the counting of my many blessings. My wonderful partner, my dear blogging friends, and my own small world of delights. There's love and light and a beautiful Easter Sunday ahead. I do hope, with all my heart, that your Easter Sunday will be memorable for more than simply having to stay at home. Until we meet again next week, I wish you all good things, dear friends.