A Special Easter
Last weekend, I was raking old leaves out of the shrubbery around our house, a yearly ritual in preparing the beds for a new layer of mulch. It dawned on me, this is what I have done for the past 24 years that we have lived here…
The lawn guy called me and I contracted with him for another year of fertilization with grub control. Medina Tractor called - they would be out next week to pick up the mowers for their yearly Spring tune-up. The schedule at the office this week was lighter than normal - Medina, Highland, Brunswick schools were on Spring Break - and yes, parents wouldn’t schedule this week (or cancelled) because they were finally leaving for a Spring vacation.
And then it hit me - the world is getting back to normal after a year of chaos!
The stone has been rolled away with the creation of a Covid vaccine and we are all feeling the joy of being resurrected from the death grip of our quarantine Covid life.
But, I also know the definition of normal is not the same for everyone. My patient, Betty, said it best recently during her orthodontic appointment. She said, “You know, I got my hip replaced last summer and after several months of difficult rehab, I was complaining to my surgeon that I didn’t expect much after surgery; but after rehab, I just wanted to get back to feeling normal. The surgeon looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘Betty, you’re still alive - welcome to your new normal.’”
I think, for many of us, we aren’t looking for a big government bailout or unlimited stimulus checks… just the life we enjoyed before Covid.
Like Betty, we are just looking for a return to normalcy. And, like the surgeon said, it’s here. We may just need a little time to realize it. Most changes take some getting used to, especially those thrust upon us unexpectedly…
But, this Easter, we have a lot to be thankful for, if we just give ourselves a minute to take inventory.
Most of us are going to return to our Easter tradition of having a meal with members of our family, sitting face-to-face across a table, not zoomed on a computer screen! The group may not be as large, but it’s a far cry better than last year. What will we talk about? Hopefully, vacation plans, seeing other family members over the summer, getting out and enjoying nature with our kids… this Spring we have an exciting future to talk about and look forward to! Hell, last Easter we were concerned - no, we were scared - that we would not have a future and our children would wander around, possibly without us, in a world like something from The Hunger Games!
Sports fans should be elated that we just finished a very exciting March Madness; and the Tribe home opener is Monday with, get this, a great weather forecast!
Cleveland’s first outdoor art festival starts this Friday with the Waterloo Art Show in Collinwood. This weekend, Jack’s Casino in Cleveland is debuting its two-story outdoor gambling experience (yes, with masks), but hey, it’s a great start that, 12 months ago, seemed impossible to conceive.
So on behalf of the Pfister family, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you and yours the most meaningful of Easters and to remind you how fortunate we are to live in America.
When we take inventory of the many blessings in our lives… and when we reflect on all that we have been through as a country this past year… something tells me this Easter is going to be extra special.
- Chuck Pfister