A Ghost of Easter Past

Happy Easter everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying the day. It has been a quiet day here in Iraq for me. Last year, at this time I was getting ready for my last official day in Albany. I left for Fort Hood on April 9th, 2006. A year later, I am spending Easter in Iraq. Yet another holiday away from home. All week long we have been recieving packages from back home...all kinds of candy...little plastic eggs filled with jelly beans and other kinds of candy. I was thinking about Easter sundays in the past today. One stands out to me. When I was about 7 or 8 (in the early 70s) we were living on Black River Road, between Watertown and the village of Black River (in upstate NY). I remember that the week leading up to Easter, my brother John was teasing me about how I was not going to get anything from the Easter Bunny because I had been bad. Well when you are 7 or 8, you believe your brother when he tells you such things. But somehow, I wanted to believe that he was wrong. I made sure that the last few days before Easter I was extra good. Anyway, Easter morning, my twin sister Jeanne and I got up early to see if we got anything from the Easter Bunny. Well we found a basket with Jeanne's name on it but try as we did, we could not find one for me. I remember what my brother had told me and I came to the conclusion that indeed, I was bad and the Easter Bunny had passed me by. Well I started to cry real bad, but my sister came over to me and put her arm around me and said that it was ok...she would share her basket with me. That's how she was. Always generous. Always thinking of her twin. The sad truth is that if the shoe had been on the other foot...I don't think I would have offered her the same deal. I think I would have told her to buzz off. Ha ha. I was a selfish brat back then. As it turned out though, when my dad woke up he wanted to know what the Easter Bunny had given me. I told him that the Easter Bunny had stiffed me because I was bad. My dad laughed. He told me to look a little harder. Check the garage. Which I did and there it was! I guess I was not so bad afterall. I love this story because it reminds me of how important my sister was to me back then. (and now too). She was always so thoughtful. She was always there for me. She made sure I learned how tie my shoes (and tied them for me more then once). When I was bullied, she fearlessly fought the boys who picked on me. She was my guardian angel. I was a lucky kid to have a sister. Especially a twin sister. And through all the years of growing up and in school she never let me down. Last year, she began to change her life just like I did. She went back to school and became a paramedic. She got involved in search and rescues. These are things she always wanted to do. Now she is doing them and I am very proud of her. As I am sure she is of me. I love you sis...and yes...if you don't get a basket this year...don't worry...I will share mine with you. (I get dibs on the bunny ears though!) Love you all and peace my peeps!