BERRY TALES: My Easter thoughts turn to a dear friend — Genie

Published 6:00 am Sunday, April 16, 2017

From my kitchen window I watch as thistles break loose from their prickly stems and drift through the spring air, light and carefree and seemingly aimless. The dandelions are on this freedom highway also filled with wishes and carried off by the warm April breeze, carried off into a space strewn with the sweet familiar scent of gardenias and the lemon fragrance of giant white magnolias, eventually, gently landing on warm green ground. The bluebirds have hatched and are skimming the fields and pastures for bugs and the baby dragonflies are big enough to be called mosquito hawks; the earth has been reborn, Happy Easter and Passover to all.

 Easter, of course, is always on a Sunday. It can, however, change its date, it can fall between March 22 and April 25. It’s all about the moon and Easter’s peculiarity to roam. Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The Full Pink Moon was this past Tuesday and the first day of spring was March 20. To add to this, count backwards from Easter Sunday 47 days and you land on Fat Tuesday. Whew!

 My column falls on this major holiday and I have many fun topics to choose from,  bunnies, white gloves and Easter hats, patent leather shoes polished with Vaseline and lavender Dotted Swiss dresses my grandmother made, but instead, I am writing about something more intangible and deeper — friendship, endurance and love. I am writing about my friend, Genie. I write about her because within this holy season I try to reflect a bit more, to break away from the superficial surroundings that creep in on ordinary days and instead, think of things that have mattered most in my life, people that I hold close and when I do, I think of her. We met on the second floor of Mt. Carmel Academy with a  “Hi, my name is Genie” and with that simple introduction  began a life filled with two-hour phone calls on white Princess phones to quick moments of checking in or “emergency” calls laced with tears and many times anxiety on cell phones. Miles and worlds apart. 

 We remained best friends throughout our lives. We left Mt. Carmel and the safe corners of this small world; I went to Baton Rouge to school and she went to Lafayette. She got married soon after and had her family. I finished school and didn’t return to New Iberia for many years. At some point, for a short time, we caught up with each other in a more terrestrial way, I moved back home and, by then, we each had two little boys. 

The properties of life had changed but our friendship was constant. Years and miles continued, life spiked and lulled and milestones were met. Genie was always first, first to get married first to have children, first to lose her parents but I was there with her as she maneuvered life and my understanding and our friendship grew. Old friends are special. Old friends have been there through the thick and thin of life and cannot be replaced, our history is too deep. I continue with this journey of life with my friend in my daily thoughts and tucked snuggly and eternally in my heart.

The gardens are planted, the zinnia seeds have sprouted, the air outside is fresh and the pecan trees have budded; it is spring time in South Louisiana, time to begin again.

PAM SHENSKY is a wife, mom to five and blogs at www.pamshensky.com.