The Rerouted Skytress

The 1st self-quarantine Easter has come and gone. It wasn’t all that bad. I must say, however, it was the 1st Easter Mass I attended in my pajamas. I won’t lie. I was very comfortable watching the Mass while lying on my bed. My hair was a complete mess. I still had morning crusties in the corner of my eyes. However, my heart was in the right place. I did miss seeing the congregation in their Easter outfits. But, I quite enjoyed not worrying days before about what I was going to wear on Easter. I also happily discovered when I watched Easter Mass on-line, I paid more attention to the readings and the Gospel. I also prayed a little harder, too. This fact made me smile. I think it made God smile, too.

This past Friday my family colored Easter eggs. It’s our family tradition to color eggs on Good Friday. I remember several years ago my family had to rush downstairs just before we started to color eggs. The tornado sirens started blaring. We found out later a tornado had touched down by the airport. Fortunately, no one was injured. It was a great Good Friday. I think about that tornado every Good Friday. Thankfully, this Good Friday was tornado free.

You know, I don’t care how old I get, I still enjoy coloring Easter eggs. Yes, I still color eggs. I color the last of the eggs when everyone else gets tired of waiting for their eggs to turn the perfect color and they leave the kitchen. This happened when I was a child, too. We kids would get excited to color eggs. However, there were usually too many kids, too many eggs, and not enough colors. We’d eventually get bored waiting for our turn to color again and we’d leave with the kitchen . We knew coloring eggs had officially ended when someone would make the khaki colored egg. The egg that got the full-color treatment. It got put in all the colors. We never knew who was going to make the khaki egg. We just knew someone was going to make it. And we all came back to see it done. It always made us smile. I think it made God smiled, too.

On Saturday I took out the Easter baskets. These baskets have been in our family for years. However, these baskets haven’t always been the most coveted Easter baskets. The coveted baskets weren’t even baskets. They were paper lunch bags. We called them “poverty Easter Baskets”. I know calling an Easter basket “a poverty Easter basket” is not politically correct these days. It wasn’t politically correct to call it that back then, either. But one of us kids coined the name and it stuck. Unlike the beautiful baskets with a handle and a bow, these lunch bags were brown with the tops turned down a cuff or two.

You see, when we were younger my family would spend Easter with our dear family friends. Depending on the year, there could be 10 kids or more for Easter. Our friends would travel from out of town. Some would drive. Others would fly. Getting their families to St. Louis was their main concern. Bringing Easter baskets was not.

I believe the lunch bag Easter baskets were a last-minute decision made by our Mother’s. I’m sure it was made at midnight when they realized they had too many kids and not enough Easter baskets. Fortunately for us, our Mother’s did feel some guilt about the basket issue. They compensated by putting less Easter grass in the bags and more candy in them. We loved our brown paper bag baskets. Each Easter we would get excited for our bags. We always knew what bag belonged to each other. We never ate the candy out of someone else’s bag. However, my dad would peek in the bags and eat everyone’s black jelly beans. They were his favorite. They were not anyone else’s favorite. So we were grateful he ate them. To this day, when someone mentions the poverty Easter baskets and the wonderful memories of us spending the holiday together, we laugh and we smile. I think this makes God smile, too.

The tradition of the Easter bag carried on when I started flying. As a new Skytress or Skyter you knew you were going to fly the holidays. I’ve had the pleasure of spending Easter with my airline family many times. I always brought a gift for my crews no matter the holiday. I believed, if we were going to be away from our families, I was going to make the holiday special for my crew the best way I could.

I did upgrade the Easter basket bag for my crews. I always picked a spring-colored gift bag with handles. I couldn’t bring myself to put the Easter grass in the bags. I had horrible visions of the hotel cleaners cursing the crews if the grass was all over the hotel floors. So I would fill the bags up with candy and fluff tissue paper on the top. My crews would always be surprised when I gave them their Easter basket bags. Their gift to me was seeing their beautiful smiles. I think this made God smile, too.

Yesterday after Mass I called and texted my family and friends. I knew everyone would be at home with their families. It would be a different holiday for everyone. I called and texted more than I would have on previous Easters. My family and friends talked about watching Easter services on-line. We chuckled about the khaki eggs. And we laughed about the Easter bag baskets. I felt closer to my family and friends this Easter than I have in a long time. The love and laughter I shared this Easter definitely made me smile. Without a doubt, I know it made God smile, too.