Happy Easter

Happy spring everyone- happy Easter! I'm sorry I haven't updated lately (good things are coming- leprechaun hunts, pics from Belfast, hopefully information on what the heck I am doing with my life, especially this summer...) I just want to post a brief, nostalgic Easter message. I've had quite a few great Easters in my life-one of the highlights was a razor from my mom when I was 11 and finally allowed to transition from wookie to girl and shave my legs. Another was receiving a giant pink plastic bunny full of chocolate that also tasted strongly of plastic. And of course there is the yearly entertainment that comes with watching my dad scour the house for hours (fruitlessly) trying to find his chocolate bunny. And the spectacular year when Layna and I ate Wendy's junior bacon cheeseburgers in our Taurus. But despite these wonderful past Easters, there is one very special year that touches me far more than chocolate, razors and cheeseburgers- April 2009, when I lived in Jerusalem. Let me tell ya, it's the place to be Easter time. The entire city fills with thousands of visitors and pilgrims, and it is the one time of year Christianity takes center stage above other religions in Israel/Palestine. So, we walked on Palm Sunday, the long walk into Jerusalem carrying our palm fronds, and visited the sites of the Via Dolorosa, the route where Jesus was supposed to walk and the nine stations of the cross (all the traditional sites of the passion). Passion plays were rampant in the streets, and people from all countries across the world came to celebrate. On Easter Sunday, we got up early and went to the garden tomb where there was a service- I don't know what denomination, but there was more singing than anything else which was happy. Probably one of the best days of my life. I know I am babbling on, and I will stop writing shortly and post some pics, but this was the one time I was proud to call myself Christian, and proud to be religious. Currently, as a student of history and religion, my colleagues and I are constantly questioning and critical of  religion. While I believe this is a healthy part of life and learning, sometimes my fellow students are so involved in their cynicism they cannot appreciate the good religion brings (along with the bad, I know) and see this time of year positively. Particularly in a Catholic country such as Ireland, which has had its share of bloody religious conflict. Anyway, this is just a post to say that I'm grateful for my own beliefs, and I respect all others, and I miss Jerusalem with all my heart, because it taught me to look past that logical cynicism and appreciate the rich diversity of different world religions, particularly Christianity.