Home     Up
Easter at Janet's (Part 1)

March 30th-31st, 2002

Last night we got back to Herrin.  We stopped at Mom’s house for a birthday visit. We took her a gift and visited with them and JC. The first thing JC said to me was ‘Hey Dad, I already finished the game you bought me, can I have another one?’
‘Sorry,’ I said, ‘Your birthday is over.’
Geez... Maybe I was a little too tired from the trip or something, but I was feeling open to other people.  Usually, when I go to my Mom’s house I have to shut that part of me off to avoid being overwhelmed by the feeling of  lethargy and hopelessness that is almost palpable in that house.  But we had been away a long time and I wasn’t ready to deal with the little children, they are so cute and lovable... but clearly the parents couldn’t be bothered to take care of them. They were dirty, needed major dental work and were dressed in ratty old clothes.  I felt bad for them but have learned from years of experience to hold my tongue. Then they started calling Kenny, my 18 year old brother, ‘Daddy’ and I found out he is living with the the mother who looks like she is in her 30’s.  He has assumed the position of father.  This is a boy who hasn’t finished high school yet and has no prospects of employment.  They tell me that they had lunch today, candy.  Some days they don’t eat at all.  My brother, Scott, has the same living situation. He has moved into an older woman’s house and taken the position of ‘Daddy’. He is older and seen more of life... but come on... he is barely over 21 years old, can’t hold a job (he told me that it’s too hard), smokes, drinks, and the list goes on. I can’t be suprised by how they turned out because their father is the same... but sheesh, why start a whole new generation of kids that see poverty and frustration as an lifestyle rather than as a situation to be overcome through education and hard work.
Oh! Then my Mom tells me she is running a daycare service out of her home. Come on... she is getting money to neglect these poor kids. I couldn’t do anything about it and I started to feel clinically depressed...

So I just sat in the back room on JC’s sofa (he doesn’t have a bed to sleep on) and watched a DVD on the Xbox. When the movie was over I checked on my wife and kids... they were ready to go. We left.

Shopping for Easter Clothes

This morning we got up and went to Janet’s church.  Maybe Tilden is too far now, or Janet has assumed the leadership role or something... but everyone seemed to understand that this was the Easter church.  Since I didn’t want to appear clueless in the new traditions of my own family, we just followed along.

They gave Candy to Dusty

John and Staci came

Janet and her Kids

The service had a musical reinactment of the Easter Story. 

The preacher was efficient in moving the service along, but he seemed careful not to be too energetic. I remembered the services in Cambria. We had hell-fire preachers and wise grand-fatherly

The Resurection of Christ
(The Play)

While I sat in my chair, figiting, waiting for the preacher to finish so that I could spend time with my Father, brothers and sister (my actual purpose for attending), my brother John used another time-honered method of coping, he passed out.

Continued on
Next Page

After leaving Mom’s house behind us we went to The University Mall to find Easter clothes (Mary’s idea... and a good one at that). I got a cool black shirt and the kids Kyler got a little suit. Very cute.

Then we went to John’s house and talked till he had to go to bed.

Baldy Shines

I thought we were just going to church, but we arrived early enough that we were able to attend Sunday School as well.  The kids got to go to hear bible stories and make crafts while I had to listen to the adults teacher disect the bible passages and try to relate them to real life.  The other participants seemed to enjoy it, but unfortunatly all his references

Dad and Peg came, too

were local to the town.  I was lost and bored. My wife escaped to help in the nursery while I fixated on how shiney the bald head in front of me was.  I also had tea to drink.

When bible class was over, my dad and the rest of the on-timers showed up for church.

The Preacher

preachers... most of which I enjoyed and believed.  This guy was too... ummm... middle class.  That’s it!  He struck me as a Wal-mart manager or such.  I’m sure he related to the congregation who were all white, middle class folk.  And if I had stayed in America, he would probably have appealed to me, too.

Concentrating Deeply