Beverly Beckham recently published an article for the Boston Globe titled "Why Easter is the greatest holiday of the year." One look at the title and I immediately disagreed. My mind then turned to the fourth of July, thinking of the beach days and annual cookouts on the Cape every summer. This holiday has always been my favorite, getting to spend time with my extended family in the middle of the summer, among a sea of red white and blue.
I began to read the article and it got me thinking. It touched upon how this particular holiday is a time of new beginnings, a time of change, and a time of evolution for everyone. This holiday often falls during that particular time, when the weather is in the process of changing seasons. Snow may still cover the ground in certain areas but there is reassurance in knowing that spring is right around the corner.
Easter begins after lent, when people may either give up something they love, or choose to do more of something in order to benefit others. For whatever reason, mainly to see if I could even do it, I decided to become pescatarian for two months. Despite severe cravings for a chicken sandwich all throughout lent, I managed to somehow do it.
I understand the sense of change that is paired with the Easter holiday after having meat again for the first time on Easter and suddenly realizing I could no longer stomach it. I recognize I either need to ease my way back into meat, or I very well may be a newfound pescatarian. Whatever the outcome may be, it is important to identify that this has been a change to the human experience.
Every Easter entails the same schedule in my household. We wake up, eat the candy out of the baskets my mother still leaves out for her three children that are all well into their 20s, head to church, and then celebrate with our extended family. Each year is the same, yet different in its own way. Snow may still sit on the ground, but spring is coming. Change may be occurring all around us, but it is shaping our future.
While I still will always love the humid July beach day followed by a display of fireworks at night every fourth, the holiday that is just shy of halfway through the year has a new meaning. Whether it means giving up something, or taking on a new task for a period of time, Easter is always a reminder of the evolution life provides us with. It allows people to recognize how change can occur at the same rate the seasons CHANGE. Take the time to evolve, embrace the change, and bask in the new beginnings that life throws at us.
