 
WASHINGTON, DC -- April 15, 2001Years ago an Easter tradition began in our family involving the annual ritual of dying eggs. We would get together with Grandmother and all of the cousins and make one huge mess in her tiny kitchen, with barely enough room to turn around. Candy would be distributed and homemade baskets put togther for each child. The kids always looked forward to this event, as it meant plenty of goodies for them, in addition to what "The Easter Bunny" always brought. A friend of ours usually had a big egg hunt with her family that we participated in for several years as well. Even more booty for the already sugar crazed kids. We broke with tradition this year in favor of a more lasting, less sugary memory.  This year Spring Break was quite boring for our now teenage girls, so when Good Friday rolled around at the end of the week, we hopped in the van and headed for DC. I was 14 the first time I went to DC, the same age as my oldest daughter. I can still remember the trip vividly. It made a lasting impression on me that I wanted my children to have.  It took around 5 hours to get there, including pit stops. We had originally thought we'd find a place outside of DC to stay, and take the Metro in to the Mall.The first exit we got off on was a really scary area though, so we got back on the highway and before we knew it we were in the heart of downtown. We found a Days Inn in Chinatown, checked in, and began the journey of a few blocks to the center of activity where art and history abound. With no real plan in mind, we wandered around taking in the sights, stopping at this park and that museum, soaking in the ambience and history that no other city can even come close to offering. We saw art on every corner, and felt history in every step.
When I was a kid Easter meant a new dress, hat, and gloves for the annual Easter morning service at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. We proudly paraded our new Easter finery down the church aisle, looking around to see the new spring wardrobes everybody else got in reward for the trip to church. In an example of how things change, I took my kids out for some new clothes that consisted not of dresses and hats, but t-shirts and shorts. We don't make the trip to any church on Easter Sunday.
Spring in DC is especially incredible. The weather was perfect, with temperatures in the mid-60s and plenty of sunshine. The cherry trees were in bloom, along with other flowering trees, bushes and gardens all over DC. The sweet fragrances hung in the air and added an extra pleasurable aspect to our daily travels. The kids learned more in 3 days roaming around DC than we ever could've have taught them by just spitting out facts to them about our history as a country. Being there among the buildings, the statues, seeing the actual historical documents, made them want to absorb the information that made our country what it is today.
The cold, hard reality that not everyone is as fortunate as some folks, and we take a lot for granted, was also experienced. We passed by street performers eking out a living, many men on benches, their entire lives bundled into grocery carts beside the benches where they lay. Homeless people in our nation's capitol added the bittersweet truth that even in the land of opportunity there are those whose lives take a turn for the worse and end up in a land of opportunity lost.
Easter is a holiday that used to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death on the cross. I can remember as a child reciting the stations of the cross with a mixture of terror and sorrow, the pictures of a bleeding Christ emoting such a sense of sadness it made me feel sick inside, even at that early age. Just like Christmas though, the true meaning of the holiday has been lost in a cloud of commerciality that leaves me wondering how many children are even aware of this event, and how much significance it has in their lives. Not much I bet. As is usual in our society, it has become all about self gratification and, "Where's my Easter basket?" Any time in DC is time well spent. Easter was especially enjoyable, even though there were no dyed eggs or Easter baskets filled with candy, there were heads filled with history and memories that will last a lifetime.
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