What I did NOT have was the yummy-looking pimento cheese fries that they offered as one of their specials because … well, I gave up fries for Lent. Woe is me!

It has been a bit harder than I anticipated, and that was the hardest it’s been yet! On the upside, since I didn’t give up sugar this year, I was able to split that battered and deep-fried MoonPie with my husband!

Anyway, so goes Lent. It’s kind of like a very long-feeling six weeks of winter stuck indoors before the bright break of spring. And how I love the spring … especially in Chapel Hill! There’s nothing quite like the beauty of the UNC campus all abloom with azaleas and dogwood trees. Stroll through the arboretum, or over by the Old Well and you’ll see what I mean.

Not to be outdone, private lawns also burst with bloomage in neighborhoods all over town. My son Bill and I make a game of counting the patches of buttercups between our house and wherever we’re going. Our own yard grows grass that is so brilliantly green that I try to reproduce it in artwork I am doing, and so soft that I can’t resist kicking off my shoes and going barefoot.

The weather becomes more agreeable as we enter the “lamb” phase March is famous for. I gladly shed my leggings and turtlenecks, unsure why I was so eager to wear them in the fall. Out come the tank tops and flip flops, summer dresses and bare legs… And the food! I plow into the farmer’s market to stock up on spring veggies … mmmm asparagus … strawberries… my mouth waters just thinking about it.

And then there’s Easter. I love that Lent doesn’t last forever, right? Now that it’s over, instead of shoveling the metaphorical winter’s metaphorical snow, I’ll be shoveling fries into this overlarge bouche of mine ... Bill will be eating cookies, and my husband Tom will be watching Bill eat cookies. (Bill announced he was giving up cookies for Lent, then asked Tom what he was giving up. So Tom said, “Watching you eat cookies.”) Tom will also be taking full advantage of what he mourns as the “last candy holiday” for a while, and stocking up on chocolate bunnies, Cadbury eggs, peanut butter eggs, jelly beans, and Peeps.

Yes, for us, Easter is a free-for-all of candy, along with flowery dresses and seersucker suits, brunch with family at the Carolina Inn and … well, my favorite part: the big shindigs my church – the Chapel Hill Bible Church – throws for its special day … the celebration of a Guy who respected women, favored the poor and was all about love and forgiveness. But I’m getting a bit preachy here, aren’t I?

Moving right along … This past Thursday night’s “Maundy Thursday” service at the Bible Church was a somber affair – I’m not going to lie to you. But it was sweet and reverent – a time for reflection.

But this morning’s Easter service, well, that’s the sincerest pumpkin patch of all ... a heartfelt, heart-warming celebration of life. The music is always great, and the best part to me is the annual singing of the Halleluiah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah – not just by the choir, but by ANYONE can bound up onto the stage and get in on the action. I’m not a great singer, so I go up there and position myself beside a soprano who is and ride her train. What a great piece of music – majestic, yet utterly familiar, and with all those voices. It always feels like a tiny drop of heaven on the tongue. It’s just good to be there with everybody being glad to be alive and all.

Drop in around 4 p.m., and you’ll catch us at our family-friendly Easter Festival – a big throw-down involving copious food, music, dancing, art, kids games.. It’s supposed to remind us of heaven, which is sometimes described as a wedding feast. Did I mention there was food? And a wedding cake? It’s sumptuous, I tell you.

Anyway, the reason I am telling you all this is because if you’re in the area this morning, you should totally stop by. Even if you’re not into the whole Christian thing – maybe consider it an anthropological study, or maybe a “rite of Spring.” (Remember Snoopy dancing with the bunnies? Like that!) Here’s the skinny: Easter Sunday morning services at 9:30 a.m. and 11:05 a.m.; Easter Festival at 4 p.m. Here’s the address: 260 Erwin Road in Chapel Hill, and here’s the web site: biblechurch.org. Be there or be square! Er ... I mean, come if you can, and by all means, come as you are!