Easter Traditions

As someone raised Catholic, I am no stranger to tradition and ceremony. Alas, as I grow older, I drift further away from the traditions that once were a given part of my life - lighting the Advent wreath, big Christmas dinners (divided amongst 2 households of parents often in one stressful day, but dinners nice nonetheless), morning Mass during Lent, the tradition of remembering it was Lent after blithely indulging in a ham sandwich on a Friday, and of course, my favorite religious holiday, Easter (sorry, couldn't compete with the heathen Halloween celebration as a child).

Today, a friend of mine took me to her church on the west side of Detroit. She grew up in Detroit, still lives here, and always patiently explains what this or that gutted building used to be whenever we tool around the area. Before heading to church today for Good Friday services, we went to Greektown and got Greek Easter bread, knotted and topped with sesame seeds and a colored hardboiled egg (mine was pink!). Then we drove back to her church and stopped off at the fish fry in the basement. I met some of her buddies, older women who filled me in on "pastor" Terry Jones' present plan to protest extremists ("hello Pot, I'm Kettle, pleased to meet!") at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Then on to church, where I was not struck down by lightning...probably an act of Divine Grace. The outside structure of the church was beautiful and imposing, though surrounded by typical Detroit blight...the inside, though, was phenomenal. The church was established in 1893 and you could see that it was still deeply cared for, despite a roster of a mere 220 parishoner families. The service took me back to my childhood in Vegas, though I never experienced any service in such a beautiful setting. And lots and lots of icons! There was a life-size Jesus reclining in a glass tomb on one side, and statues, stained glass windows, and blue and gold everywhere. I loved it, and I enjoyed the service...but I felt like a tourist after having been gone so long from being a practicing Catholic. The Good Friday service includes a reading of the Passion, honoring the crucified Jesus (a.k.a. kissing Jesus' feet on a crucifix), Communion, then exiting without any music/pomp/circumstance. I don't know if I will go to Easter Mass. I always liked Easter Mass as a child, though I did not often go to Good Friday services. As an adult, I feel that maybe Good Friday is as important to attend as Easter is...there is no Easter without Good Friday!

Well, not very descriptive, more of a chronicle of my out-of-the-ordinary excursion today - wish I had pictures!

Floriday....a Florida Holiday

In the fine tradition of the more well-off residents of Michigan, I am heading to Florida for a few days to soak up some sun, so as to be able to make it through the rest of this snowy winter. My Seattle sister, her husband, and their two daughters will be travelling there for a conference for my brother-in-law's job, and I will be staying with them on the beach. I can't wait to see the girls. The last time I saw them was at our wedding in October, and at this age children develop so quickly. The 3 year old is already talking so much more than a few months ago, and I can't wait to talk about first grade with the oldest! I bought a swimsuit at Nordstrom, a store that caters to the snowbird. I hope to have some cute pictures to post next week! Bon voyage...

I'll take you, mock spring, you tease.

With the temperature a balmy 45 degrees today, I was able to downgrade my bundling and comfortably leave the house in pants, a short-sleeved t-shirt, and hooded sweatshirt (go Bears...). Seriously, if I was in Vegas I would be complaining about how cold it is and wearing more than a sweatshirt, but here I've come to understand and live and breathe the theory of weather relativity. It's amazing how quickly I got used to the cold...save for a year and a half in Oregon, everywhere else I've lived has been downright balmy at least seven months of the year. And now...flip the seven months to chilly and you're there. And I love it. I have been in Detroit for three winters now, and deep into the February month of the first two years I caught myself wistfully imagining the feel of the Vegas sun baking my skin (my freckled, skin cancer-prone skin). This year I didn't even think of the heat until writing this, and even then without an ounce of wist!

I love the weather, though it really does make for miserable driving. I love the snow. And I love snowshoeing, a hobby the Husband and I picked up after he gave us snowshoes for Christmas. Even the ice, though treacherous, is incredibly beautiful. Stalactites of ice decorate the eaves of our roof, with those hanging low breaking off with the sound of shattering glass when I forgetfully swing open an outside door.

Nothing more to say tonight. Just happy to be happy about the weather. And just hoping, as much as the winter is beautiful and welcome in its time, that spring brings its own happy stuff...though I can tell you I've lived here long enough to know when I am being teased by Mother Nature and her 45 degrees...

Just Checking In

...or really, just phonin' it in. As in, I am not putting any effort or forethought into this late night post. I did double duty today, working my two incredibly different jobs today. I'm tired. What's new? Snow, snow, snow.

End Times

The time has come for us to say goodbye to another year and hello to the next, which will most surely pass even faster than the last. The folks at Detroit Dilettante (that's just me!) would like to wish my past, present (none!), and future (maybe!) readers a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year! For me and Husband, formerly Fiance, it has been a year of extreme ups and downs. In January Husband lost an uncle much earlier than one should ever have to say goodbye to such a youthful and life-affirming person, then in April his father got sick (somewhat back to normal), and then, if that wasn't enough, Husband ended up in the ER with chest pain in May, which we honestly now think was extreme anxiety from the previous 5 months of family trauma.

The upside of this year came when Husband received a clean bill of health and then in October...married me! It was a perfect ceremony and a nearly perfect reception (what am I bitchin' and moanin' about? well, lame and insignificant stuff...weather suddenly turned very cold for day-of, band was a bit clueless about wedding pacing and etiquette though great at what they are actually paid to do, bartender was a bit of a dud). The food was great, location beautiful, the company the greatest, and everyone travelled to and from northern Michigan safely, thankfully!

The best thing was having all our friends and family together in one spectacularly beautiful place! There were a few key people missing, but they were there in spirit, I felt the love!

And now, a few months later, the best thing of all is to look at the pictures and marvel over how great my friends and family are (new and pre-existing), how wonderful that everyone is in good health and still flourishing despite the grueling journey to northern Michigan in autumn, and to realize how the silly little "problems" with the wedding fade as time passes and only the good stays lodged in this heart and mind. I cannot imagine a life better than the one I have, with its problems shared amongst an incredibly supportive cast of family and friends, and solutions coming from the grace of God/Buddha/the good earth! My only wish that I cannot accomplish alone this year (through my own grit and determination, to differentiate from other wishes/resolutions which require only my efforts) is that my circle of friends and family should expand to include usually silent neighbors, people who Husband and I should meet for reasons of fate (??), and those in need of whatever help I can offer, who I hope can make themselves known to a sometimes-blogger who thinks she understands much of what goes on in the world, but is probably more often than not guilty of living in a cloud of dreams...though with beautiful clouds come beautiful rainbows. Happy 2011!

Giving Thanks...signed, Domesticated Woman

Okay, I am feeling no more domesticated than I was 2 months ago...but as of almost 2 months ago, I became a married woman. I now, on Thanksgiving's Eve, give thanks for my wonderful, newly-minted husband, my new family, and most of all, my old family - being the family I was thankfully and miraculously (sp?) stuck with at birth. Here's a sneak peak at a future post about the fantastic wedding Fiance (now Husband) and I put together and pulled off with aLOT of help.

I am so blogonamous!

16 Days and Counting...

I have not posted since July and I won't even apologize for it. I am marrying the Fiance in 16 days, and there's still some work to do. We are on track, but that is thanks to me neglecting things like blogging, job-hunting, and networking for my firm. Okay, I've done a little of all those things but not in the focused way I had prior to the summer. I do promise to be back with some wedding pictures and my usual observations on life on the margins in no less than a month. I have not abandoned you, my lonely little blog!