Easter and the Great Plagues

Easter has come and gone and thankfully we survived. The lead up is usually as crazy as the lead up to Christmas, and this year was really no different. It was full of plagues and planning and tired and cranky children and parents. We’re not a huge church going family – we’re lucky to make it there for weddings, funerals, Easter and Christenings. And this weekend we managed to combine two of them. (Easter and a Christening). It was the icing on an otherwise chaotic week.

I’m sure that somewhere in the Bible it speaks of the great plagues. I’m almost certain we have three of them at home at the moment.

Before Easter I usually hide a great stash of chocolate in anticipation of the big event. Knowing we have a few mice around at the moment I was especially careful about this. And then as the big night descended upon us, I opened my stash only to learn that mice had somehow managed to find their way into several items! I was horrified (and also thankful for the spares). The Easter Bunny also had to deny the request from the children for an egg hunt (other than a few little cue cards leading them to the refrigerator) as the thought of mice chasing chocolate throughout the house makes my skin crawl.

On top of mice, we also have rabbits. And crickets. We live at the Hayman Island for rabbits at the moment. They are everywhere. Rabbits and crickets (or grasshoppers?). It’s enough to send a former city-girl like myself a little stir-crazy. The noise, the movement, the damage. Maybe those aren’t three of the plagues mentioned in the Bible, but I did say that we aren’t a huge church going family.

Anyone who lives in rural areas will tell you that the ‘plagues’ all pass. They are always replaced by the next plague, and some are far worse – or better – than others, and occasionally you are lucky enough to have a reprieve from all of them. Right now I am inundated with critters I could live without and it’s taking its toll on me. If anyone asks me what I’ve been up to lately, it seems like a cop out to say ‘eradicating mice’, but you really have to see it to believe the hard work and determination it takes to have a minor win here!

Thankfully we spent most of the Easter weekend at home. It meant a few days of relaxing with the family.

And then it rained.

Five inches of bacon saving liquid gold. We were lucky, although sadly others are still waiting their turn. Such is the way of nature. We celebrated our own little win by running through puddles and taking photos. The only way we know how.

 

 

Like Christmas, Easter can be a stressful time, however the rain certainly took a lot of the pressure off at home. It meant we could stay inside and hang out over a movie or a puzzle. And more than eradicating pests and stressing over another big day, we got to spend it as a family with friends and relatives we love, and that’s really what Easter is all about to me anyway.

 

The Proposal

This is the last photo of me while I was still, technically speaking, 'on the market'. Even though I wasn't really. CP and I had been dating for just over 2 years at the time the photo was taken. It was Easter 2003. The next day CP asked me to marry him.

This is where CP asked me to marry him. Except that it was empty. And there were drought cracks because it had been dry for so long. And there were burrs. And we had about 6 dogs surrounding us, running like mad, excited to be off the chain. Now it is looking very different. We were sitting on the pipe to the left of the photograph. 


I knew he was going to ask me. I had thought (hoped) he would do it the day the first photograph was taken. My parents had arrived in St George on the Friday. Over dinner, CP asked my father for permission to marry me. It's all a little blurry now, but I think he may have said something along the lines of "I know it's a little old fashioned, but it's still important to me..." To which my father replied something to the effect of "If you need me to supply a ladder so that you can just run away together..." And that was that. We had all but sealed the deal. All I had to do was wait. I knew he would ask me that weekend because my family was out and we were all heading down to the farm so that our families could meet. And we had spoken about it for so long that it was no surprise. 


On the Saturday night we did the big family dinner thing on the farm. Still nothing. Not that I can blame him. It's not like in the movies with romantic backdrops and sentimental background music to help things along. It would have been too nerve racking for CP to do it with all the family around. Even though he knew I would still say yes. 


I was really starting to think it wasn't going to happen. Time was slipping away quickly. I think I even started to think that maybe it wouldn't happen this weekend (which would have been fine too), and so I stopped getting my hopes up. 


On Sunday morning, CP and I went for a walk. This was all very normal. When I had stayed at the farm previously, it was common practice for us to take the dogs for a walk and sit down and have big 'talks' along the way. And so it was on this day. We sat on the pipe beside the empty dam. I swatted the flies away from my face. My hand a continuous window wiper. CP sat beside me and held my hand. He spoke about how different things looked after it rained. He told me that this was the farm at its worst, and that you couldn't imagine how amazing things could be with a little bit of water. He spoke to me about how hard things were for a farmer during a drought, and that if I could love him like this - at his worst - then I could only ever expect things to get better. And then as we sat there surveying the damage of 5 years of drought (or more), CP asked me to marry him. 


There was no ring, no bended knee and no formalities. It was just the two of us, making a verbal agreement. And then we walked hand in hand back to the house.


After someone asks you to marry them, and you experience a whole range of emotions in a single moment, the minutes afterwards are somewhat more subdued. At least they were for us. We felt like we had the best secret in the world. The thought of racing home (ringless) and announcing that we were engaged, just seemed a little too cheesy for my liking. So we kind of just hung around smiling goofily for a good half hour before I really felt that something needed to be said. 


We told both sets of parents within minutes of deciding that it was what we needed to do. And it was more like,"So, yeah, CP and I have decided to get married. So I guess, ummm, I guess that means we are engaged." than cliched romantic moment. But more than anything it was 'us'. It was our style. Our way of doing things. Even though it was no surprise to me, it was not at all what I expected. There were no tears, just an incredible feeling of joy. 


Every time I drive past the dam, I think about that day. I think about the farm at its worst, and how lucky we have been since then. I think about how far we have come together, and as individuals. And I am so grateful to be a part of this. And while now I proudly display two rings on a very special finger, our marriage is about more than that. It's about us making a life together, and creating a future for 3 very special little people. It's about sharing this life with people we love, and making a home for us all. And I think we are getting better at it all the time.