DID YOU CELEBRATE?

Two days ago, April 23rd, was the putative death date of William Shakespeare, in 1616. He was baptized on April 26th, 1564. Did you know that? Yep, the Bard himself. Lived 52 years a looooong time ago and wrote a ton of stuff still being read and performed in our time.

Some people still think Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's stuff.

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Last Sunday, April 21st, was Easter Sunday in Western Christian churches. Folks went to services (some for their semi-annual visit), little kids hunted Easter eggs (plastic ones full of candy--what kind of bird laid those?), voices raised roofs in praise and thanksgiving. Singers and organists went home either hoarse or with hand cramps. It was a wholly satisfying day.

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Have you dug out your bikini? Sun hat? Sun screen? Lawn chaise?

Is your lawn mower cleaned and oiled and rarin' to go?

It's important to be ready for upcoming events before they arrive in a flurry of sun, high temps, and humidity. (Don't forget the bottle of water.)

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'Tis the season for:
   - birthdays (always)
   - weddings
   - graduations
   - Mother's Day
   - Cinco de Mayo
   - golf, baseball, softball, swimming
   - Memorial Day, which signals the onset of the summer season, 
     despite the calendar's insistence that we wait until Friday June 21st.

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Celebrations come in all sizes, shapes, colors, styles--it's a you-name-it kind of thing.

For example:

My friend Jane had shoulder surgery in early March. Relieved pain, but also brought limitations in movement--physical therapy does a lot to reclaim the range of motion, but Jane discovered the best PT was just getting on with what she could do. She's a quilter, so she set about cutting out blocks from tee-shirts and big squares from stabilizer. I got in on the ironing task, attaching the fusible stabilizer to the tee-shirt material. When I saw her this past Monday, she'd already been driving her car, shopping for groceries, and going to aqua-robics class at the Y. I call that celebration.

Another kind of celebration is quiet--giving thanks for each new day, as my friend Marilyn does, and the lovely lady I met at a coffee shop, Lucy, who is probably now 90, instead of 89 when I last saw her. Some of us give thanks at bedtime for the day just past.

My daughter in Ohio will be on a round of celebrations in May: two birthdays, a wedding, a graduation, not to mention starting this year's vegetable garden. She works a full-time job, her husband has his own business, and still they find time for all these events.

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What, really, is the one thing that makes celebrations what they are?

In my book, a celebration makes a connection--between me and someone I know, am related to, someone I like or respect or admire. Between me and God. Between me and people I don't even know (my country isn't the only one that celebrated Easter a few days ago).

And connections remind us that we're part of the human family--like it or not. There's a little lesson in humility there for us, if we look for it.