TALES FROM THE BAYOU: An Easter Tradition

Since I was in the middle of the A to Z Challenge all during the month of April, I didn't get a chance to tell you about an Easter tradition that is very dear to my heart. 

My sister will probably laugh when she sees this picture. She will probably THINK she knows the tale I will tell today. Maybe she will be correct. And maybe she will learn a thing or two.

Card-giving is a billion dollar business. Today there are cards for every conceivable situation so finding one that says just what the sender wants it to say is kinda like shooting fish in a barrel...odds are in your favor.

But when I was about 8 years old the card selection wasn't that great. I didn't have the money to buy something other than this card to give to my big sister for Easter. I didn't even take the time to sign it and truth be told, Janet kept the card...only to return the SAME card back to me the following year. She says she did it simply because she really didn't like the card in the first place and was just trying to get rid of it.

Maybe that's true. Then again, maybe she was just starting an Easter tradition that has stood the test of time. Year after year, decade after decade, this card has traveled back and forth from my hands to hers. In between it is tucked into safe keeping until it is time to take it out again and send it on it's special journey back into another sister's hands.

I can't even tell you what it says on the inside but I CAN tell you what it whispers to me before I tuck it away for another year.

I am still here.

The sisterly bond has not been broken.

Love has endured despite births, deaths, marriage, divorce, illness, and all the other possibilities of the human condition to tax our minds and spirits. That little card has reminded me of this fact for FORTY-FIVE YEARS of passing from my hands to my sister's. It is a symbol of the most cherished part of my childhood and I pray God allows us to carry on our Easter tradition for many more years to come...