Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

Easter Sunday.  Wonderful.  Holy Week is my favorite week of the year.  Palm Sunday is always inspiring with the joyful welcoming of Jesus into Jerusalem.  Then the Chrism Mass (which I didn't make this year) with the priests of the diocese renewing their commitment to their vows.  Holy Thursday, after Easter Vigil, is the most powerful Mass.  Watching your pastor wash the feet of 12 'regular' parishioners gives a glimpse of what it would be like to watch Jesus wash his apostles' feet.   Then experiencing the entire Eucharistic Prayer with the Last Supper in mind, it's hard not to be emotionally moved.  Having the Mass not end, but instead having the Eucharist processed out of the church, and spending time in adoration before Tennebrae at 11:30 pm.  Good Friday service includes the veneration of the cross.  No musical accompaniment, the church bare of decorations, the baptismal font empty of water, the crucifix covered.  The starkness cannot be ignored.  Then the reading of the Passion.  That we know the end of the story, makes Good Friday very hope-filled, and the waiting between Good Friday and Easter Vigil truly feel like being in limbo.  Then the celebration of Easter at the Vigil Mass.  The senses are overpowered...by the lack of light into light.  The elaborately decorated church, the powerfully song Gloria, the incense.  Watching adults being baptized is very moving.  Last night we had a whole family entering.  There weren't many dry eyes.  Then Easter Sunday filled with family (and of course, chocolate).
Today has been very relaxing, doing nothing but preparing our feast.  A great day before our schedules start to get a little out of control.  I'm missing the Singer, who's spending the day at my brothers' with his lovely family.
The Imp is off this coming week, but has crew practice every morning at 8 am.  She's not real thrilled with that, but with Districts on the 21st and States on the 28th, they've got to practice.
From not 'till June, our schedule is full.
Friday I fly to Connecticut for my sister's wedding on Saturday.  The next weekend is Districts for crew. Wednesday the 26th we all drive to Jacksonville, for  the Imp's orientation at UNF for the Honors College.  Friday night (the 27th) we drive back home, to get up early Saturday, since we have to be in Sarasota for the 6:45 coxswain's meeting for States.  Finals for States are on Sunday.
And we hit May running.
I leave on the 10th for NC for the Singer's graduation from Belmont Abbey on the 12th, and drive home (with the van full of her stuff) on the 15th.  Hubby and the Imp drive up on the 11th after the Imp takes an exam.  They'll drive home (with a car full of stuff, too) on the 15th so that the Imp can take her AP test on Tuesday the 16th.
Hubby's brother and his wife arrive on the 17th (They're the Imp's godparents).  The 18th is my last day teaching for the homeschool group.  The 19th we're hosting an Open House for the Imp's graduation.  The Imp's godparents have to leave on Sunday the 20th since her godmother is an 8th grade teacher in charge of the annual trip to DC.  They leave early on the 21st.  The Imp actually graduates on the 22.
With school over for both girls, life should slow down, but it won't.
Memorial Day weekend is Nationals for crew, and there is a high probability that the Imp's team will be traveling to NJ (Princeton) for that.  The Singer takes off for Illinois and a 5-week training for her job with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students).  
So maybe I can relax in June.

the Imp's Prom pictures: