All I wanted was a nice picture......Easter 2011

While having dinner with my friend Jane, she said something that really resonated with me.  She said, "As you Mercer grows, you're going to want him to have some of the same memories that you had as a kid."

She couldn't have said this at a more opportune moment. Just that afternoon, I had coerced Mark into trying to help me re-create every Easter picture taken of my sister and I since birth.  The quintessential photo of two little girls, dressed to the nines, in front of a forsythia, only now with our little boy as the showpiece.

To better understand this - we need to jump in the time machine...

Baby Dolls

To say that Andrea and I were tomboys, is very fair statement.  We just weren't the type of girls who enjoyed dressing up.  Our mother is the same way.  The Lenhardt Ladies thrive on being comfortable and that usually means pants with an elastic waist and sneakers.  Yet each year at Easter, my Mom was overcome by the lure of "creating perfect memories" which meant that Dre and I were dragged to "the mall" with the women folk in search of an "Easter Outfit".   This would include dress, socks, shoes, hat, purse and sometimes even an "Easter Coat".  We had our pick of stores: Sears or Kids R Us because those were the only ones that featured a "Pretty Plus" section, as Dre and I were both "chub-sters".

Hat & Mullet - Strike a pose, JenStar

Easter morning, after the thrill of our egg and basket hunt in our PJ's, Mom and Dad helped corral us (buzzing on sugar) into our new duds.  While I was the kid who just "put up with it", my sister rebelled and it usually ended with her in tears, my Mom in tears and my Dad opening the bottle of scotch that the Easter Bunny had left in his basket.  All of this chaos happened before 8am Mass.

I can hear my mother saying, "Hold up your basket"

Of course, after all of that, we were late in "heading to Church".  So, we'd have to sit crammed in a pew amongst a sea of "Holiday Catholics".  I can still hear my father grumbling, "I never see these people here any other Sunday...but look who's here all dressed up on Easter...a$$Holes". 

After that completely ungratifying religious experience, we'd head to Ben & June's (Gma/Gpa U) for MORE Easter bunny loot - another egg and basket hunt.  But this hunt could only happen AFTER we had our pictures taken.  This seems like no big deal to some - but it was a half an hour ordeal - which is a million years in kid time, especially when there are money-filled Easter eggs to be found.

Atleast my grandparents look great!

And this is where the story gets back to Mercer.  Each year, Andrea and I would have our picture taken in front of my Grandparent's forsythia.  So, I wanted to do the same thing with Mercer, only without the Easter dresses, as his decision to wear women's clothes can be his own to make someday.

I dressed him in some adorable overalls and a polo for this nostalgic moment on "film" - his first Easter picture.  Besides recreating one of my favorite memories, I really wanted to document him next to something living  - to show how both will grow over the years.

Well, when we plopped Mercer and his stuffed Peep on a blanket in front of our own forsythia, my expectations for the perfect Easter picture were dashed.  Apparently, like his mother before him, he couldn't have cared less about the picture and really just wanted to hunt for "eggs" (rocks)..

Below are the shots that didn't make the Easter Card....

"Oh...a rock!"

"I need to touch these"

"Daddy removing the Tasty Rocks"

"This doesn't look like an Easter egg"

"You want me to wear these?  How about, NO!".

So - when your Easter card comes in the mail this year, know that. like the generations before me, I tried my hardest to capture a perfect memory on "film"...and what you receive is the best I could get!

Special thanks to Mark for spending his limited patience on my pet project.  I realize you didn't have to experience this growing up.  Passover doesn't have the same "cute quotient" as Easter.  I mean, what's cute about a picture of a kid in front of a Sedar plate?  OYE.

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE.  

PEACE, LOVE & CHOCOLATE