Sarge-sitting & Easter Sunday

Wow - what a funny looking Easter bunny....oh, whoops, it's Sarge (nice tongue, buddy.....). Noa and I got to "Sarge-sit" on Saturday night so that Mike and Jess could have a date night. We brought Sadie and Gunnar over to play and all the dogs wore each other out. Sarge is still in the housetraining stage and needs to be monitored when he's out and about outside or in the house (he has a special potty area to use outside, so it's not a free-for-all in the yard). He also seems to be getting bigger by the moment. He won't be able to be held much longer, so hopefully, he'll get the don't-pee/poo-in-the-house concept down soon. It'll be difficult to swipe up a 40-lb dog starting to squat. Although, he is a smart little guy - he already sits for all his treats and toys and seems to be recognizing his name as well. I won't be surprised if Mike and Jess have him doing some complicated recall work soon, but first things first - get that housetraining down, Sarge!

Meanwhile, the Easter weekend is not very exciting for the Hammers. In fact, Noa is on call at the hospital today and I am home working on my final project for my ESOL class (2 weeks to go until graduation!). Since moving away from family, Easter has lost some of that family feel that it had while I was growing up. Jess and I were reminiscing about how when each of us were little, we'd get a brand new Easter dress every year. I even remember shopping for the dresses with my mom at the JCPenny factory store. They would be the girliest dresses, with flowers, bows, lace - the works. The whole outfit would be complete with new shoes and a purse. My mom must have oodles of photos from each Easter with Anoli and I standing out in the yard with our new spring dresses on. Our decked out family would head over to church and as kids we'd meet up with the other girls to admire each others dresses. Each year the church would be stocked with huge, fragrant Easter lilies and the colorful tulips. Church would always be followed by a family dinner either at our house or my grandfather's and my sister and I would anticipate some Necco candy in our near future (my grandfather used to work for the Necco candy company).

This year I met up with Mike and Jess at church - with some of my regular clothes, no Easter dress for me anymore - and we had lunch at a local pizza joint. Don't get me wrong, it was a great morning; I always treasure my time with M&J, it's just that Easter has changed over the years. I guess that someday that Easter dress-church-dinner-like holiday will return when Noa and I have children (which will be a long ways away, I might add) and I'm okay with that. Sure, I loved the dress, the candy, and all the excitement leading up to the day - it's never truly been about that and for that, I am thankful. How meaningless would Easter be if that's what it's all about year after year? Even if I am spending this year's Easter at home on the computer, writing about effective teaching methods, the significance of the day has not been lost on me. In fact, I am glad that it doesn't take a specific day for me to acknowledge the real meaning behind such a commercialized holiday. I'll always love the candy and the little girls in their froo-froo dresses, but it'll never compare to the real occasion for celebration today.

So - Happy Easter all. May the meaning behind today be real to you.


--------------------------------------Matthew 28:5-7--------------------------------------