A Belated Happy Germanic Goddess of Light Day
On Saturday, a card arrived from IP’s mother. She loves cards—I’ve known several people like her who just love to send cards for every occasion and just ‘cuz. While my card-sending is limited to birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s Day, and thank you cards, I still think it cute when people like IP’s mom do it.
(I must confess that I hated it when Former Friend L did it while trying to win me back, because it was like, dude: trying too hard.)
IP expected a Passover card. My mother-in-law sends cards for all Jewish holidays and maybe Christmas—she and my father-in-law raised IP and his brothers as Jewish, but none of them practice or identify as such religiously. My father-in-law isn’t Jewish at all; he was raised in a Protestant religion, and according to IP this caused tension. I, of course, was raised as Catholic with a semi-devout mother and a questioning father who encouraged WTFs sent in the Church’s direction. IP and I are taking my father’s model of skepticism and healthy questioning as our own model should we have children.
So, where was I before discussing our different religious upbringings? Ah, yes: we actually both expected a Passover card. Imagine our surprise when we opened up the card to see an Easter greeting.
I give my mother-in-law props: given my background, it’s natural to assume that I’m a Christian of some sort. However, what she doesn’t know is that both IP and I are both raging atheists. It’s something his family doesn’t talk about, but she was willing to make a gesture in my direction as a way to welcome me to the family. I thought it was sweet; for the most part, my contact with IP’s parents has remained minimal given his relationship with them, but the gesture is nonetheless appreciated. I don’t know how she’d react if she knew that neither of us believes in a god, but hey: she’s trying. And she always double barrels my name, too, when sending something. I think it’s cool that she’s sensitive to that because woe to the person who drops my WordNerdia. I have now adjusted and love having IPia as my second last name, but I love my WordNerdia just as much as ever so I like to have them used in tandem. It seems like she knows that and acknowledges it. Hell, maybe she even misses her maiden name at times. I think a lot of women probably do if the Nest boards are anything to go by (and they often are not, but there are some strong feelings there on this topic).
Anyway, I was touched even though I’m not religious (which she couldn’t possibly know—a lot of people might assume that our wedding ceremony was completely secular in order to compromise and negotiate the respective religions in we were raised). What she also doesn’t know is that I found Easter as confusing as hell during my childhood because my parents never explained that a) it celebrated Jesus’ death and resurrection, II) that it was conflated with the vernal equinox in order to sway pagans to Christianity back in the day and, 3) that it’s the most important Christian holiday (I thought it was Christmas! Toys!). I always wondered: what do bunnies have to do with church? And why do I have to wear pastel colors and watch shows about Christ’s Passion that make my mom cry? Do they go together? This is what goes through a six-year-old’s mind when you don’t explain that I’ve been saved in order to hunt for brightly colored eggs and eat chocolate bunnies and peeps. Duh.
I think Paul and Storm sum up Easter and my comprehension of it during my childhood perfectly for me:
In conclusion, because he is the reanimated dead and I love me some zombies: hope you had a Happy Zombie Jesus Day!
