The traditions that form us

 It's certainly beginning to feel like springtime here.  Although the temperatures remain blustery, the brilliant sun is melting the snow and if one really looks closely, you can find a few green buds poking up beneath the dead leaves.

Today is Misha's "expected" due date, but we are waiting and wondering patiently over here.  Both Mike and I are officially on "spring break" from school so it is actually pretty nice to spend time relaxing together and enjoying ourselves before Misha decides to kick it into high gear and make an appearance.

That said, our friends are keeping us busy with dinner gatherings, brunch outings, walks, and holiday festivities.  I am grateful for this as a totally empty calendar always makes me a little antsy.

Soon, we will join a handful of close friends on the parenthood train.  It's been helpful to observe them in action as we prepare for Misha.  We can begin to imagine ourselves as parents!  It's exciting to have a community of friends to share in parenthood and to establish our own traditions together.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I grew up with a neighborhood of loving families that created and hung onto a number of traditions- summer block parties, father's day brunches, afternoons at the pool, New Year's Eve parties, trips to Terry Andre beach on Lake Michigan, lakefront fireworks, birthdays...the list goes on.

With our own Minneapolis friends, we've already created a few traditions- Longfellow Lights Committee for one!- and I hope to keep these puppies going strong.  Now, with kids in the picture, I have a feeling that we may establish a few more.

After dinner on Saturday night, our friends got out the boiled eggs and dye and we set to work off recreating the egg designs we learned in childhood.  It seemed that egg dying was an essential part of Easter for all of us.  I introduced the ugliest egg competition (as established by either Grandpa Frank or my dad...I can't remember) and q-tips as a tool for making polka dots.  Mike led a rousing game of crack the egg, a Serbian tradition.  Who's egg is the strongest?

In the New York Times, Bruce Feiler wrote a piece called "The Family Stories That Bind Us."  His point, "The single most important thing that you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative," rings true for me.  He describes that the stories don't have to be epic- it could be simple as "we only get to eat donuts once a year- on July 4th."  Now, in the Vasich household this tradition will likely be reinterpreted as "we eat donuts on July 4th" or even "mom eats a donut on July 4th."  But, regardless, the narrative is still alive.

Mike and I were raised in families with very strong narratives.  I think this makes it easier for us to imagine the traditions we will practice and the stories will create as our own family and with the families around us.

This Easter, Mike's egg- deemed "The Saint George egg" by our friend Jack for its giant cross- unsurprisingly dominated the cracking competition.  Perhaps also unsurprising, as we hugged goodbye at the end of the night, all agreed, "Let's make this a tradition!"