Nice Times During Easter Sunday

For once in a long time, my immediate family had a pleasant time together. Normally this is because our family is so dysfunctional, aggressive and so easily agitated, this is not the typical case. Unfortunately, because my sister, father and I are so convinced in what we're saying to be the absolute truth, an argument erupts. But thankfully, as I said in so many words, we all got away from that scenario "Scot free", having a good, peaceful day, full of laughs and really calm dialogue between all of us.

My sister's kid hid plastic Easter eggs around the park on the downhill slope. She also hid them around the gigantic wooden gazebo that sits near the lake while we kept a close, watchful eye on her -not that she would purposefully fall in or anything. My little niece made a game out of it where the grown ups had to find the eggs, for a change. If anyone found a rubber ball inside an egg, that person would be the winner. The prize was nothing.

After hiding them she watched my dad, sister, wife and brother-in-law huffing and puffing, stooping down and gathering the eggs and all the while, she cackled like a crazy little Munchkin. She would likely still be cackling even if good ol' Uncle Kelly dropped dead on the ground during the hunt. Ha ha ha. Maybe not. But she is twisted like that -like the rest of us. Must be a family trait.

It was fun and incredibly enjoyable to see the happy expression on my niece's face. These are the kind of times I want to remember the most.

Earlier that afternoon we ate bratwursts and potato salad in the gazebo. I'm old enough and wise enough now to do things I would never opt to do when I was younger and so ignorantly worried about how things look. "Who cares!", I say now. The reward I took from it, as I could tell the rest of us did, was seeing her happy. Pure. Simple. And dare I say, joyous.

Later on, our family took turns riding the little rides and pushing each other on the swing sets. There was someone flying a big dragon kite up in the air. It was a beautiful thing to see. The kids laughed. The grown ups smiled.

It was my idea to go to one of the most unused, beautiful city parks in the entire world. At the risk of sounding egotistical, which I admit I can be, I think I made a wise decision. I'm grateful and fortunate it sits so close to where I live. I've taken pictures of the park before during this last winter. Here's a link to that post:

psychocarnival.blogspot.com/2010/02/winter-park-scenery.

Of course, it looks green and lush now. The perfect place for a peaceful family outing. I will be taking pictures of it again soon, the next time I take a walk. Right now, we're enduring a freaking monsoon.

Take care, everyone!