Happy Caffeinated Easter

Oh for God’s sake. It’s 2:00 a.m. and here I am up and typing instead of sleeping. You’d think I’d know better than to drink a latte at 4:00 p.m. The last time I did that was celebrating my birthday in Paris with my two best friends.

Carolyn, who wisely doesn’t drink coffee, promptly fell asleep when we got back to the hotel. Dawn and I sat up all night and talked, then around 4:00 a.m. we marveled at how late it was and how wide awake we were. We thought, it must have been the excitement of Paris and being together, then it hit us….it was the 4 p.m. latte! Duh. Some people never learn.

I do want to say Happy Easter to you all. I’m throwing myself into a frenzy of Easter bread baking on Saturday (with the help of more caffeine) and will maybe make a rice (pastina) pie to appease the soul of my departed mom, who is never far from my heart. It was her custom to bake at least a dozen pastina pies at Easter and take them to the homes of her sisters and friends, trade her pie for one of theirs, then critique each pie that was given to her.

I even bought Mom an Easter lily, which I’m planning to take to the the mausoleum where she and my dad rest side by side. I’ll bring it because I remember all the years she’d berate my dad if he didn’t get her one. Hopefully this lily will buy Dad some peace this Easter.

I’m working on making a comeback this spring. I must admit, freezing, gray winter sucked the life out of me. I don’t mind the snow as much, but the gray is what kills you. That, plus not having the writing job of my dreams left me drained of all my usual energy. I haven’t even wanted to cook or bake, that’s how you know something’s up. All I wanted to do was watch English period dramas and tuck myself into the warm down comforter of my bed.

Thank God, flowers are sprouting and there isn’t much left to watch! I got through all five seasons of Poldark (again)Season two of Bridgerton, and just tonight finished watching The Other Boleyn Girl (again). This along with my perennial favorite, Pride and Prejudice, which I’ve probably watched at least twenty-five times, shows you the depth of my winter blues. But, in the immortal words of Loretta Castorini to Johnny Cammareri in Moonstruck, I’m telling myself, “Snap out of it!” And I will. But it’s been a little harder than I thought. I’m starting to understand the wisdom of a winter home in Florida.

Thankfully, I’ve had my friends, family and Uncle Richard to visit. On one of my last visits, I was whining about my lack of zeal for my current temp job duties. I was, again, filled with guilt because I know how lucky I am to even have a job and how hard my father and uncle worked in miserable conditions almost all the time.

My dad and my uncle worked in coke ovens, lining the inside with bricks. It was so hot in there they could only stay in for 15 minutes at a time and had to wear wooden blocks under their shoes to prevent their feet from burning. They even wore special wool pants so they didn’t get too hot. Uncle Richard still had his pants and showed them to me. He said he and my dad were always happy to get the coke oven jobs because they paid so well.

Look at that smile on his face holding those wool pants. And I dare say a word about a cushy office job as a temp in a gorgeous building working with people I love who make me laugh? My working class guilt haunts me daily.

But it’s spring and Easter and good things are coming, even if inflation is killing us and the world is too scary to fathom. I pray that peace and common sense will take hold soon. If not, I also pray for more English period dramas to keep us entertained. I wish you each a Happy Easter and a Happy Spring!

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