It’s Easter Every Day

I smiled a secret smile as our morning unfolded, following our familiar rhythm — the usual pattern of our fun and funny conversations as we prepared for our workday. It’s a tight schedule. It’s so tight that Bobby knows by the minute when we’re behind. I’m often the truant getting us off track, sometimes by pulling him into the living room for a dance. But mostly because I hit the snooze button.

I make the breakfast.

Bobby makes the coffee.

He lays the plates and silverware on the counter, and I load them up.

Bobby picks up my plate and my coffee. Then he heads to the Family Room.

I pick up his and follow him down the stairs, smiling behind his back. It’s our daily ritual.

Why do we carry each other’s breakfast downstairs every single day?

I don’t know. Bobby just started doing it one day and I followed his lead, and we did it again the next day. And the next. I like it that way. It makes me smile. A lot of our life is like that. It’s made up of these little gifts that we give. Then we wait for the other to notice and perhaps respond.

I think what Bobby did that morning is a handle — a lesson to hang onto.

Automotive Easter Eggs

Do you know about these?
Automotive Easter Eggs are features or details hidden by a car’s designer, just waiting for the owner to stumble across when they’re least expecting it. They range from the adorable to the ridiculous and vary in how well they’re hidden. Some are so obvious that they’ve since become features in themselves, while others are so well tucked away that most owners never even know they’re there.

These aren’t selling points or something manufacturers include on the window sticker. They are discovered later, if at all. But when the owner finds one of these hidden gifts, they find more pleasure in their car.

Tesla owners stumbled upon a Christmas Tesla Easter egg. A voice command of “Ho Ho Ho” activates Santa Mode. Once in play, the dash screen transforms the driver’s vehicle into a sleigh driven by Santa. The Chuck Berry version of “Run Rudolph Run” is played in the background. Continuing the hidden finds, a voice command of “Ho Ho Ho, Not Funny” will change the Christmas music to “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”

Dodge owners are often surprised to find to Easter eggs hidden throughout their vehicles. This Challenger Easter egg, a silhouette of their car, is located in the window surround.

My husband, Bobby, found an Easter egg hidden in our Challenger SRT. Much to his delight, he discovered that it’ll hold the front brakes and release the back brakes in manual sport mode. This produces a humongous, smoky burnout! This procedure is not in the owner’s manual nor ever mentioned in sales brochures but the best present ever to the kind of person who owns this kind of car.

Easter Every Day

Love is a wild ride. It’s packed with passion, spontaneity, and the occasional outlandish gesture. I love passion! Spontaneity is fabulous! And an outlandish gesture? Yeah, baby.  But grand gestures can’t save a relationship crumbling beneath your feet. Small everyday things build the foundation so these other wonderful things can even happen and be appreciated inside your thriving, verdant home.

I contend that if you weave these small gestures throughout your everyday life, they pack a greater punch.  And in the case of our breakfast, perhaps the recipient will notice, pick up the ball, and toss it back. Then it becomes like a game, you know? Instead of ticking each other off, try coming up with secret Easter eggs. And the foundation builds and builds.

When the foundation of a relationship’s strong, grand gestures feel grander, sex is hotter, and life is better.

This is the time when I typically give tips to accomplish something. But there’s really only one tip. Build a strong foundation in your relationship by doing small consistent, thoughtful things for one another. Make it fun and meaningful.

So instead of tips, Bobby and I agreed that examples might work better. We decided to make a list.

But we failed you! It’s not that there aren’t a bazillion examples. It’s just that they are so small. Everyday. Not so memorable by themselves. But I think you’ll get the point.

• I’m not the most disciplined at getting gas in the car and sometimes push it until morning. Many times, on those mornings, I look down at the gas gauge and realize that Bobby has filled the tank after I went to bed the night before. How does he do that? Does he go out and look?
• I consistently replace items for Bobby when he’s running out. I overheard him tell someone the other day, “I can’t believe it! I used the last drop of shampoo, then someone pulled up the driveway and placed it into my hands!” Thank you, Amazon Prime. I make it my business to keep my eyes open for things of his that are running low so that he can have those moments.

There is a more than even chance that many of you reading this cannot see yourself in this scenario at all. Things in your home don’t lend themselves to small, everyday acts of kindness. There might be sounds of anger. Or sounds of silence. Sometimes anger and silence are the same, am I right? Chaos reigns: there is no peace.

The Prince Of Peace

The fact of the matter is that if our individual hearts are not peaceful, our relationships and our lives cannot be peaceful. May I introduce to you The Prince of Peace, Jesus? If you don’t believe as I do, you’re welcome here with me and I hope you feel the same about me. But hear me out. Many people have said that they admire our relationship. Well, Jesus is The Foundation that our individual lives stand on. His teachings and example — about how to treat others, and how to love others — is where everything starts.

It’s Easter. The time when we remember what Jesus did. There is no greater love than the love Jesus showed when He laid down His life for His friends. He wasn’t just a good man who died an unjust death. He was the spotless Son of God — sinless, blameless, holy. He willingly embraced it. What makes it even more astounding is who he did it for. Me. You. We’re his friends! We are not rejected or forgotten. There is no greater love than the love Jesus has for you. He proved it on the cross.

Jesus is called many names in the Bible:

Wonderful Counselor

Mighty God

Everlasting Father

Prince Of Peace

If you’re feeling far away from peace, you’re only a conversation away from knowing The Prince of Peace. Just ask Him to step into the chaos and He’ll come. I promise; He did it for me.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8

I love you. I truly do. Happy Easter.

Here’s one I wrote about another “little thing” that’s powerful. A smoldering look. It has Shakespeare in it because I’m fancy like that.

Gaze An Eagle Blind