04/29/08 Simple Pleasures

With the all the upheaval in the world today over rising gas and food prices, the housing slump, and a plethora of other less than encouraging world topics I find myself on numerous occasions reminiscing and longing for the simpler times of my youth. With May 1st quickly approaching my thoughts return to my grammar school days when all we children in my small Midwestern town would make May Day baskets. They were always simple in design, made of either construction paper or left over scraps of our mother's wallpaper and filled with candies, flowers; lilacs being my favorite, and possibly small tokens of affection; such as the plastic toys from the Cracker Jack box. As children we weren't concerned with the medieval origins of the holiday, for us it was all about leaving the basket of goodies on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell, and then running as fast as our little legs would carry us to hide and watch the recipients. Happily, May Day baskets are seeing a resurgence with youth again and perhaps for just a brief moment we adults can enjoy the fun and simplicity of May Day baskets and making someone smile.