What’s Easter all about?  As I arrange small colourful eggs in straw nestled within a wooden trug, the sounds of the Eucharist service from Manchester Cathedral tumble out of the radio; a beautiful voice celebrating Christ’s resurrection.  Teenage son struggles to wake up from a late night’s X-Box playing and can’t face any of his chocolate just yet.  The phone rings: my brother in Menorca calling to say Happy Easter.  It’s warm out there and he’s in his shorts, getting ready to go down to Mahon Port to see some people over for the holidays.  We chat about this and that; just touching base and keeping those family bonds going.

In the kitchen, making pancakes with smokey bacon and maple syrup … seems like a good brunch on a lazy Easter Sunday.  For the first time for almost 20 years I’m NOT having family over for a traditional Sunday dinner (roast lamb & lemon tart) – recovering from flu and want to take it easy.  No-one seems to mind – the world keeps turning …

Text message from younger brother.  He lives in Southport and is having a day with his motorbike mates. We seldom meet up now but the love is still there and on high days and holidays we make sure we say hello.  Leave message on Aunty Beryl’s voice mail wishing her and Uncle John a Happy Easter.  Yesterday we went round to their place in Kendal for Simnel Cake & coffee.  As I’m not doing the dinner they are going out to a hotel overlooking Windermere for lunch with friends.

Remember Mum, who died 10 years ago and is still here in spirit and my son’s happy smile.  Think of  how Dad, gone 20 years now, used to get us Thornton’s eggs with our names etched out in curly icing …

The Archers babble away in the background mostly unnoticed – catching up on a week’s minutiae in Ambridge.  Love the familiarity of a fantasy world where the seasons  are still observed and real life rarely impinges.  Son decides we have to open all the egg boxes and line them up on the sideboard next to the Easter basket.  He phones his Dad and arranges to go round to help him in the garden.  Tomorrow all three of us will go for a walk, maybe to Arnside – don’t usually venture into the Lake District on Bank Holiday weekends – too many people and anyway we have lots of places to explore right on our doorstep.

Now to get ready to go over to a friend’s house; she’s invited people round to celebrate the opening of her new photographic studio in her back garden. On the way will drop son off at his Dad’s and pick him up later …

And that’s what Easter is all about for us.  Spending time with people we care for, reconnecting with loved ones near and far, and a bit of chocolate indulgence.  Nothing major, nothing world-shattering but simple, important and a reminder that love is what binds us all together …