Egg-stravaganza

 

While Riley’s hands steadily turn her egg into a piece of art, Noah runs off and states, “I’m done.”

Noah and Riley have such opposite personalities. Noah is competitive. For instance, he had his hands on the hard boiled eggs before I had the colored dye ready. Then, he plopped one into the Easter egg dye before I even knew what was happening. Riley sensed my frustration because I couldn’t move as fast as Noah, and waited patiently for me to give her the go ahead.

Geez, I sound like my mother. I remember my mother, in her later years, commented on how I could zoom around the kitchen and prepare food so quickly. Typically, she made the choice to stay out of my way. Am I my mother, commenting on how quickly my children, namely Noah, move through activities?      

If I am like my mother, that is perfectly fine with me. She was the kindest, most compassionate individual. I digress…

Back to eggs, green finger tips and a tradition we have been sharing with Cousin Emily for seven years. The first time we gathered to color eggs was when Noah was ten months old. He sat on the table, in a onesie. Emily, Uncle Ray and I did most of the work, while Aunt Bonnie took pictures. Our little group evolved over the years and Riley joined the elite egg group. We went from using small paint brushes to color eggs, to independently plopping the eggs into the dye. Today, we had a chance to celebrate our last hurrah as elite eggers. Emily is off to college in the fall. Domi, an exchange student from Italy, colored eggs for the first time. We will continue our egg coloring tradition; however, it will look different next year. In the words of Dr. Seuss, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

This one time, on the train ...

“The sun never sets here. I can’t sleep.”

“It is too hot here. Do you have air conditioning?”

In the middle of nowhere, “Why won’t my cell phone work?”

“Where is Mt. McKinley? Where are the animals?”

So many life lessons, I learned while working on the train. Well, not really, but I did work hard and learn a lot. I learned if people are grumps in their daily life, they are going to be grumpy on vacation. There were many times I walked up to chat with passengers on the train, only to walk away with an earful of complaints.

"My tour guide told me I would see a lot of animals. Where are the animals?" a passenger inquired.

"Keep looking out the window. They are out there. Unfortunately, a massive train doesn't sneak up on animals very easily. If you see something, let me know." I responded, while slowly making my way towards a more jovial passenger.

I learned to be polite and respectful, while reminding myself not to take their grumpiness personally. I can't change their outlook on life. It took awhile to figure out the nature of people. What I learned during the summer of 1998 and 1999, still applies today.

“Some people are like thorns. But you have to let them be thorns, because thorns can't turn into petals. The trick is not letting them prick you; never let a thorn prick you!”  -C. JoyBell C.

Life requires good navigational skills. Stay away from the thorns and seek out the beauty of the petals.