Blurred Lines and the Easter Bunny

It has been over two years since Alexis first reported that she saw the Easter Bunny in her bedroom. TWO YEARS. If you click over to the original post and watch the video, you'll see something that can be recreated today. Alexis still tells that story exactly the same way.

The only explanation I can come up with is that Alexis saw him in a dream. It must have been one of those dreams that is so vivid that it sticks with you for months and months ... and in this case years. It must have been one of those dreams that blurs the lines between reality and the dream world and makes you question what you think you know.

I've certainly had my fair share of those dreams.

There's a recent one that is going to be added to the list and ZOMG IS IT DUMB. So dumb. But I can't shake it. Even though I know it wasn't real, it follows me around day-by-day and makes me slap myself up the head.

I get Brownie points for knowing it's a dream, though. At least I'm sane enough to know that there isn't really a ghost following me around.

That was the dream, in a nut shell. I walked around all over the place and a ghost followed me. Through the park, at my desk, while cooking dinner ... everywhere. All the while, the ghost let me know it was there by flipping and twirling me hair. In the dream, I tried to cover up for the whole thing by swatting at the ghost when it twirled my hair, but only if nobody else was looking. Even as I tried to make it go away, I didn't want anyone else to know that I had a little invisible friend.

I really do have a little friend, by the way -- she's just not invisible. On the night that I had the dream, a certain 8-year old was sleeping in our bed. As usual, she had herself wrapped around my head and was flipping and twirling my hair in her sleep.

And I really was swatting at her. I was asleep, but I was definitely swatting at her.

Totally asleep. Lines between reality and the dream world blurring.

Which brings us back to that darned Easter Bunny. He's one of those blurry lines between reality and the dream world. Alexis doesn't even know it.

Either that, or I'm wrong and she really did see the Easter Bunny in her room. If that's the case, then I guess maybe there really is a ghost walking around behind me as well.

"Supposed To" Is In the Eye of the Beholder

I don't know if everybody does this, but I've realized that I form my ideas about how holidays are "supposed" to be celebrated based on how I celebrated them as a kid. Christmas Eve is supposed to be a big deal, for example, because early in life I spent it at my Aunt's house.

Easter is supposed to be an even bigger deal. Fancy dresses, church, flowers, egg hunts at grandma's ... there's a whole Thing I have built into my memory that I use to compare to the now.

The now, however, is very different. There are lots of reasons, but I think the main one is that Alexis and I usually fly solo for Easter. The husband works every year, which is fine, but it throws off that Thing in my head.

This year I decided to let Alexis take the lead and tell me how Easter is supposed to be done according to whatever is in her head. I mean, I already had the things I've done other years planned for repeat, but I didn't have a plan for the entire day. I left that up to her.

First there was the usual Easter egg hunt. The Bunny hides eggs overnight all over the place and Alexis spends the first few minutes of being awake trying to find them. I spend those minutes wishing I was asleep, but that's a whole other thing.

After that, Alexis decided eggs needed to be colored.

It wasn't until she was dying eggs that Alexis remembered something from previous years. In other years, tiny little Easter eggs have magically appeared in the fairy garden a few weeks before the holiday. Those magical Easter eggs are stolen by the Easter Bunny and replaced with lollipops on the big day.

The magic happened again. Fortunately. The second Alexis remembered previous years, she looked out the window and was delighted to find the bright treats.

But then things veered into an all new direction. Given the power to choose to spend the rest of the day any way she wanted, Alexis chose to go to PNC Park and watch a Pirates game.

All in all, it was a pretty solid combination of traditions remembered and traditions created. There definitely is nothing wrong with spending the day at the ballpark, enjoying the sun and 70 degrees.

But I still think it's super interesting that Alexis' "supposed to" looks so very different from my own.

It Really Was a Great Easter