Easter during the quarantine

0

BOTKINS — Though our family has had video chats, there’s nothing like seeing family members in person. My husband and I live in Botkins and drove a total of 230 miles on Easter Sunday to see our children, their spouses and our grandchildren. We watched the live-streamed Easter Vigil Mass on TV on Saturday, which was also our wedding anniversary.

On Sunday morning, we loaded our car with family Easter baskets, plastic personalized Easter eggs, birthday gifts from parties missed and a birthday cake for our granddaughter whose ninth birthday was on Easter.

We began our travels to Wapakoneta, where we delivered an Easter basket of goodies and hid eggs in our 2-year old granddaughter’s yard. We watched her find them from a distance. We then traveled to Coldwater to do the same for our twin daughters and their families. We also watched a granddaughter and a grandson open their birthday gifts in the yard.

Next stop was in Anna to deliver another Easter basket and see a granddaughter come outside to celebrate her first Easter. Our travels continued to our families in Russia, Troy and Xenia. Most of the grandchildren didn’t know we were coming and were surprised to see us. We had so much fun, but it was difficult to watch from a distance. We’ll be glad when real hugs replace the air hugs.

One son and his family live in California, so we shipped their Easter basket of goodies. Our Californian grandson also had a birthday on Easter, so we sang “Happy Birthday” on the speaker phone in our car. Another son, who lives in Columbus and will be married in the fall, received his favorite candy in a shipment as well.

When my husband and I planned the visits, we calculated the amount of time we might spend at each house and the driving time. We sent the visit schedule for our families’ approvals and were able to stick to that schedule fairly well. We packed our lunches and our own Easter basket of candy for snacks.

We returned home feeling thankful for Our Lord who rose from the dead, our wonderful families, cooperative weather, technology that allowed us to text our families when we were near their homes and when the eggs were hidden, the low price of gasoline, that we were kept safe in our travels and the simple joys of life. It was truly an Easter that we will never forget.

By Joyce and Dick Platfoot

No posts to display