THIS EASTER…

I had work on Good Friday, something I’m SO not used to because for 13 years of Catholic school, we began Easter Break the minute the bell rang at 12:00 pm on Holy Thursday. And then for the past how many years, my office observed Good Friday as a “holiday” so we never had work. But this year, for some unknown reason, they decided to trade Good Friday for Columbus Day! Ummm, ok random.

Anyhow, on Good Friday, my family and I usually spend a good amount of time in church, praying and reflecting as we commemorate Jesus’ passion by doing the stations of the cross. Well, since mom and I had work on Friday, we didn’t get to church until much later in the evening but managed to walk in on station #3 en espanol…estacion tercera…After that, we went to say the rosary at the grade school auditorium where they set up a vigil with the consecrated hosts on an altar-like shrine. Sometimes we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that quiet time is rarely achieved. But it’s always during the Lenten season when I make the true effort to sit in silence and talk to God.

I think I’ve found further purpose for my religion as time has gone by. When you’re younger, you feel a little forced, a little obligated. But when you start making your own decisions, then turning to religion in times of trouble or happiness occurs more willingly than obligatory and that’s how it should be. Well, before I get going on religion, I’ll stop this discussion here.

Easter Sunday was grret! We went to mass at 9:30 am, getting to the parking lot half an hour early to fight for parking spaces and seats. After mass, the family had an early lunch at Olive Garden. After watching the Lakers lose to the freakin’ Sacramento Kings (who I detest along with San Antonio, sorry if you’re a fan) my sister and my cousins, Mari and Kesh and I went to Beverly Center to watch Ned Kelly. It’s a movie with Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom about an Austrailian outlaw back in the late 1800’s. It’s only on limited release here in the US. The Beverly Center Cineplex was the only place in this area that’s showing it and the theater we were in was like the size of my room! Plus, the mall itself was closed (except for 2 GUESS? stores and the bookstore by the theater) so it was a very dawn-of-the-dead kind of ambiance. So, we thought the four of us would be the only ones there for that movie, which would’ve been fun as hell, but another chick came in. I honestly wasn’t expecting much from the film, but it was actually really interesting and I was super into it (and not only cuz Orlando was in as many scenes as the lead). But oh was it SAD! Very dramatic! After the movie we were like, geez, what a downer! That was my easter…how was yours?