Happy Easter!

I am 29 years old and this is the first year that I can remember not having an Easter Basket. We stopped doing the eggs several years ago, but the last couple years my mom would make up little baskets with dried fruit and other mostly healthy treats in the plastic eggs and hide them around the first floor at Cromwell. The general rule was that at least from SOME angle, you would be able to see at least SOME part of the basket without having to uncover it or move anything, though I'm not sure that was always the case. If we found our other sibling's baskets we would NOT tell where we found them, but sit on the couch and smirk as we noshed on our bits of sweetened pineapple and papaya and jelly bellies (hey, I said MOSTLY healthy).

It's funny, for all that Holy Week here in Colombia is a big deal, you'd think maybe today would be the biggest deal of all. I don't know if it's because G's mom isn't feeling well, or if they really don't go to church on Easter Sunday, but today has been super low key. The plan HAD been to go to the beach, and to bring the Grandfather. I've heard the churches are all decked out, and I was kind of curious to see at least one. But while we have gone to a couple of masses in people's houses, I haven't been to a church the whole time I've been in Barranquilla this trip. So who knows. I've missed church the last couple years at home I think too, just didn't wake up in time, so I'm not that bummed about missing the service, more just wanted to see the decorations.

This is the third big holiday I've missed at home in two months - first was Valentine's Day, second was St. Patrick's. For Valentine's I did get an ENORMOUS bouquet, and taken out for a nice lunch, but it was kind of strange not being with my husband, and that was the day it really hit me HARD how much I missed him. I remembered it was St. Patrick's day just before I got dressed, so I wore my army green pants and a t-shirt that had some kelly green leaves in the design, and after dinner I tried to explain some of the traditions to my in-laws. When we finally got clear that yes, they actually TINT the beer itself green, not that people drink the beer that comes in green bottles, they grimaced a wee bit, and they also thought it rather horrible that you got pinched for not wearing green clothing. But hey, they have a tradition of throwing wet cornstarch at people during their big Carnaval parades, so to each their own. :-) (For the record, I think they also think the cornstarch thing is horrible, but at least they are used to the concept.)

Anyway, I think it's funny how holidays in one sense are just another day in the year, but in another they have so much history and emotion and expectation tied to them based on how you celebrated in the past. I didn't realize I was going to miss my Easter Basket this much, even if I AM 29.

The Saga of the Teeth

(Excerpt from a letter to the girls)

Apologies to everyone if I'm slacking in responses and also Christmas-y type stuff in general. This end of work wrap-up is taking so much out of me! Just yesterday I was on the phone crying to my mom because usually Christmas is one of my favorite times of year and this year I just don't have the energy to do everything I usually love to do. She encouraged me to look at the stuff I usually do and see if I can do a less intensive version of them or something. G said today we'd work on finally unpacking from our Thanksgiving trip so we can get a tree, I think that will help a lot.

Our last day at the office is the 21st, and I'm taking the week of Christmas off, so maybe then I'll have some time to do more, even if it's after Christmas, although I may spend a lot of time sleeping, which is what has been happening on my weekends!

I just got NINE cavities filled in 2 days!!! My friend at work encouraged me to use my dental insurance before it ran out on Dec 31st. The closest dentist to take our insurance plan is in Ottumwa. So I went in for a cleaning and found out I needed a lot of fillings. Unfortunately, they did not have any openings until January, so I asked them to put me on the list to call if there were any cancellations. Then we had an ice storm and lots of people were canceling! The big roads to get to Ottumwa were pretty clear, but people were iced into their driveways and such. So I got 3 done one day, and the the next day I went back for 3 more. They said they'd been having a lot of no-shows, so they could probably just keep going and finish up the rest if I wanted. So I spent from about 2:30 - 4:45 in the dentist chair, and had 3 sides of my mouth numbed and 6 cavities filled. argh. But at least it's done. Except I'm a little worried about my bite, when I first got home the left side was hitting before the right side. A couple days later it seems to be settling, so maybe my jaw just had to get back to normal after being cranked open for so long... If anyone has any tips for recovering from the stress of dental work, I'm all ears!