Typically, I would write about a Holiday prior to the actual Holiday occurring. This is because, typically, I am busy preparing for the Holiday and it is, for lack of a better description, on my mind. But this year, for the first time in my many years, we went out to a restaurant for Easter. And because I didn’t need to plan a menu, shop for food and then prepare it, I didn’t worry too much about Easter dinner until … it was time to eat Easter dinner!
In the more recent past and being in the restaurant business, Easter, for me, was a workday. And it was a very busy workday filled with seating plans, scheduling and staffing. In my longer past, Easter was filled with meal preparations and family festivities. It was fun, but hectic and I often found myself missing out on conversations as loading of the  dishwasher or dessert preparations took precedence. But not this year. This year, I simply called up a restaurant and made a reservation. That was it!
In preparing for my Easter dinner, I liked being able to choose an outfit that I knew I wasn’t going to sweat in. Plus, I didn’t need to worry about having floppy or long sleeves that would get wet or stained. I also liked knowing that the bit of mascara I was applying would stay on my lashes and not run down, encircling my eyes so that they resembled a raccoon. I only needed to worry about who would drive and at what time we would leave.
The restaurant was lively and fun. Flowers were blooming at every corner and families were gathering in groups for photos and hugs. Little girls and boys dressed in their Easter finery were plentiful. I was so pleased to be able to enjoy the people watching as we waited for our table to be ready. And it was so wonderful that I didn’t need to worry about seating others. I only needed to follow the hostess as she showed us to our table. I could smell the food as we entered the dining room. And the buffet bounty presented, seemed to go on and on. I went up three times, representing my appetizer, main meal and dessert courses, respectively. And although I was stuffed, my fourth trip was for the one item I, simply, wanted more of. What a treat!
Of course, there was a price to be paid for my ‘easy’ Easter enjoyable meal. The meal wasn’t free, nor was it cheap, but it was still a good value because what we had for food choices in comparison to what I would have spent in time and money to offer my family a fraction of the choices, was, overall, less. And the fact that I didn’t miss one conversation, was…
Priceless! Priceless!       
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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