The best Easter basket

The assignment for the classroom of first-graders was this: Make an Easter Basket.

Being a kid whom always enjoyed (and still does) those assignments that involve creating and using my imagination, I was excited to get home and get started.

I wanted to do something different, to bring in a basket that would be something no one else would ever do. Therefore, anything that had to do with knitting a basket or weaving one out of colored paper strips was promptly eliminated. I did, however, briefly consider doing something with the basketball net hanging off the hoop on our garage.

Feeling the vibe of my creative energy, my mother began asking questions to guide the process. What is something that could hold an Easter egg? "The plastic thing in the refrigerator," I replied. "OK, what else," said my mother. My baseball glove? A sock? "Well, you wouldn't be able to see the egg in a sock would you?" inquired Mom. Hmmm....I pondered....I thought...I looked around the house......

My grandmother, so wise and so aware and so unassumingly present, called me into her room and said, "Sally, can you help me with something? I'm cleaning out my closet and can you take these old dress shoes of mine downstairs?"

Sure, I said as she nodded at me that yes, I could have a piece of candy from the candy jar. As I walked down the steps...EUREKA! That's it! One of my Gram's old dress shoes would work perfect for a basket! I yelled to my mother, ran down to the kitchen, held up the old dress shoe and said this is what will be my Easter basket! Mom smiled.

Mom gathered the pipe-cleaners and paint and I set about decorating my Gram's old dress shoe. Mom added the finishing touches of the grass and chick, my Gram placed the little Easter hat on the back of the shoe and I smiled.

I still have that Easter basket. It reminds me of my Gram and of my Mom. It speaks the Easter message of that which is old is made new again. The shoe symbolizes the journey of faith I make moving ever forward carried by the saints who have trod the road before me.

Resurrection happens --- to old dress shoes, to tulip bulbs hidden in the ground, to us.....practice Resurrection!

sj;