APRIL 4, 2023 – (Cont.) Since the big Easter Egg Hunt was scheduled for late Saturday morning, Illiana stayed overnight with us Friday, though she and her parents live only six miles away. As fortune would have it, however, a major March-end lion roared across our region Friday evening, leaving in its angry wake a beautiful April Fools’ prank Saturday morning, replete with wretched driving conditions and limbs cruelly ripped from neighborhood trees. Yet, from this tempest emerged spectacular scenery—everything blanketed with heavy snow—and a melliferous symphony of snowblowers up and down the sidewalks.
Just before 11:00, Illiana and I forged our way to Fred’s house and the Big Commotion. Greeting us at the front door was the official welcoming committee—two neighbor girls, a seventh grader (I later learned), and her assistant, of kindergarten age. They were all smiles and grace, as they cheerfully ushered us in and took our boots, hats and jackets. Behind them the party was in full gear—a blur of happy children and their parents or, in the case of a few of us, their grandparents.
Though Fred would later say with a chuckle that pandemonium had ruled early on in the proceedings, by the time of our grand entrance, as it were, the scene was remarkably non-threatening to me, a geezer (hiding behind his mask with added confidence from a fully restored, post-transplant, Covid vaccine regimen), and Illiana, who was not yet acquainted with any of the two dozen kids.
We would be the last ones to leave the extravaganza two-and-a-half hours later. Illiana had found her way into the heart of the scene, and her interaction with a bunch of really nice kids brought me great delight. I, meanwhile, mixed with the parental and grand-parental attendants, all of whom enjoyed the affair every bit as much as the children did.
I savored every encounter and conversation with these extraordinary neighbors, some of whom I’d not met before. If by “breaking news” a person can be dragged into despair about the state of our world and nation, mixing with the people at Fred’s Great Easter Egg Hunt Party was the perfect antidote. Here was a collection of people who, as far as I was concerned, “had it all”: genuine affability; a ready sense of humor; transparently good character; open, down-to-earth, approachability; supreme curiosity fed by liberal educations and an array of fascinating “real world” experience; and impressive involvement in the local community.
By the end of my interaction with these people, I felt inspired and energized. My faith in humanity and its future was restored. Perhaps much of my reaction was in celebration of my emergence from the Covid/post-transplant immuno-compromise bubble. Though in isolation I’m never bored or restless, as a human being, I’ll always be “a people person,” and Fred’s party was a reminder that we are, after all, a sociable species.
The signature conversation, however, occurred just as Illiana, with her big stuffed bunny gift tucked under her arm, and I were preparing to leave. Coincidentally, later that afternoon, the conversation would continue out on the street just around the corner from our house, and by further coincident, it would lead to another surprise encounter. The day of wonder wasn’t finished!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. (Cont.)
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© 2023 by Eric Nilsson
