An Ophir Easter

It's been years since I've been to Ophir (a ghost town) but I can remember so many experiences under those rocky mountains. We'd explore the caves, eat good food and run down to Minnie's, a small store that mostly carried penny candy.  This was even the place where we told our families that we were expecting Leo.  I can see myself as a young child picking wildflowers, as an awkward teenager, as a newly married adult.  It's been a place we celebrated big events and small and where I will forever picture my grandparents.  I learned how to love the mountains here.  It's been almost 4 years since I've been there.

For my whole life, I have gone to the same parties every year.  There was the Christmas Eve party at Grandma Lois' with so much Christmas magic, the 4th of July celebration at Grandma Barbara's with parade watching and cold cut sandwiches.  And then there was the Easter part in Ophir.  Even if there was snow on the ground, we were up in my grandparent's cabin hunting Easter eggs and eating dutch over.  I have been so lucky to have had a large close extended family. As I've become an adult, these parties have slowly gone away or changed significantly.  Homes are sold, loved ones pass away and life changes.  It doesn't stop me from mourning the loss of these special traditional memories.

My siblings

This year, we had an Ophir Easter.  I feel so lucky that my kids could experience an Ophir Easter complete with the huge Easter egg hunt and traditional trip to the Minnie's equivalent.  My little ones may not remember being there but I will.

The new Minnie's

The cousins shopping at Minnie's

 Ophir is deep in my roots and such a part of who I am.  There is something about being there that sparks in me a love for my family and for the past.  I could picture me there at all the ages and stages of my life.  It's a weird dichotomy lately, it all felt very much the same being there and completely different at the same time.  I'm thinking it's because I live in this completely different place than how I grew up.  Utah is such a huge part of me but not at the center anymore.

 

 

 I am stepping out to be my own person and start our own traditions but I still long for the past too.  There is a happy medium though, my homemade chocolate eclairs.  That's my traditional food at Easter, happy I could share it with those I love. 

 

This is how I remember Ophir, just sitting around and eating.