Easter

Yesterday, we had the family for a holiday celebration. The first holiday meal that we have cooked since September 2009. Only 14 people, some are sick, some are out of town, but the table was crowded, there was abundant food and the noise was constant. It was a good day, except the part where we had to visit Joe's grave. Daniel and Kyle were both here, and I do love having the boys here. Being a mom is different than any other role a human plays. It is the most basic role an animal plays; nurturer, protector, teacher and everything else. Mom's are all things to the child; until the child grows. But the child remains all things to the mom; that never changes.

I have just finished a book "The War that Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Illiad." I have read and reread the Illiad, and did not understand it until now. It is an anti-war story, an anti-government story, a story of emotions and teams that do not always pull together. The humans tempt the fates and try to bribe the gods, and fate and the gods always win. The mom (Thetis), knows from before his conception that son (Achilles) is going to die young; yet she returns to Zeus and begs for his life, his easy death or anything else she can get out of the gods. In the end, the fates win and Achilles dies, as was foreordained. Mothers have no say in the matter, life goes on; children go to battle, go for adventures live there lives as they see fit. The mortals have to hope that they have taught their children in the childhood years all that needs to be known. The childhood years just seem to short for all that needs to be taught. Then again, maybe we did not know all that needed to be taught.