Easter

This year... I'm wondering what happened to Easter. Due to Easter being incredibly late this year, it has coincided with ANZAC Day. So we (those of us who actually work) get a 5 day long weekend, instead of the usual 4 day one. School holidays are completely fruitcaked up, almost 3 weeks off, seriously why didn't they start a week later and finish this Friday. The kids have had two full weeks, and now don't go back until Thursday! Cranky x 100.

On Sunday mornings, I listened begrudgingly to a radio program called Australia All Over, hosted by Ian McNamara (Macca), I've been listening to this on and off for the past 16 years, and I still don't know the talk back number, he says is sooo fast. He says " call 8 triple 3 1020 and 02's the code - hello this is Macca" but its all in one breath and super super fast. I'm not particularly a fan of the show, but we have the radio in our room playing 24/7 on the ABC and so it just comes on on Sunday mornings, due to the fact that I think Macca is a bit rude and most of the people calling in are trying to raise money for something, "I'm riding across Australia to raise money for people with amputated feet" and they talk about weather and birds. Annoying.

ANYWAY.... yesterday was Easter Sunday, the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, a pretty big day in history. All people who rang in wanted to talk about was chocolate or the Easter Bunny or something to do with ANZAC day. I feel that ANZAC Day has completely overshadowed the Easter message. Yes its very important to remember the soldiers who died fighting for this country, but some acknowledgement of Jesus dying on the cross for us should be in their too.

I've never been to a dawn service, and to be honest, I don't think I'll ever go to one. I feel its a bit wrong, as my dad was in the army (only as a peacekeeper thank goodness), Jamie's dad is a Vietnam veteran, I believe my grandfather was in WW2, but we don't do anything to commemorate it. I watched part of the dawn service in Gallipoli today, it moved me to tears. I love the way the Turkish people have allowed Gallipoli to be part of Australia (and NZ), they lost many tens of thousands more soldiers than the ANZAC troops, yet they consider it to be joint land. A lovely sentiment.

I remember a couple of years ago (I think whilst pregnant with Ryan), Mark and I went to the war memorial in Canberra. I looked at the war memorial in such a different way that day, thinking at much the same time 100 years previous women in my situation with young 11-12 year old boys would be soon sending them off to war. In four years time it will be the 100 year anniversary of the Landing at Gallipoli - in four years time Mark will be 16 almost 17 years old. If we went back 100 years in the past, Mark could have been one of those boys who lied about their age to head off to the "Great War", and it might be the last time I saw him. Sitting in the War Memorial, I thought if I was one of those mothers... how hard it must have been for them. Those boys were YOUNG, and so many of them died, on both sides of the war. All of those boys were the son's of someone.

So that is my thoughts on Easter (sorry I didn't get to church, but its hard to go with tiny ones when its not your norm, and it isn't supported by your husband) and ANZAC Day (much different to when I was younger)