Help push the car out of the mud? Easy, I thought.

The photo to the left says otherwise.

On Easter Sunday, my family and I gathered at my parents’ house. With about ten cars, parking was tight, so we utilized some of the grassy areas near the driveway.

After a dinner of salad, ham, ribs, corn, green beans, baked potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, potato salad (I’m just now realizing what a potato-heavy meal this was) and three desserts to choose from, we all wanted nothing more than to head home, slip into some sweatpants, and fall into a food-induced sleep.

We began our good-byes and car after car filled with people, pulled off the grass and into the drive, and headed home.

There were just a few of us left when it came time to pull the Mustang into the drive and return it to its garage parking space. With 20+ people coming for dinner, the garage had been cleared of vehicles, cleaned up nicely and set with several banquet tables and folding chairs. The pink tablecloths were a nice touch, very Spring-like.

My dad got behind the wheel of the Mustang and hit the gas. Wheels spinning, the car wasn't moving.

My grandpa, two brothers and I made our way out into the grass, lining up at the rear of the car. It was awfully wet. I guess it did rain on Saturday night. I had to kick-off my flip flops to avoid slipping. How embarrassing would it have been to slip and bounce my face off the trunk of the car?

With four of us pushing, you’d think it would be a pretty easy job, right? It was. It took us only a couple minutes to get the car out of the mud.

But I learned a valuable lesson that night. When pushing a car out of the mud, you never line up behind a wheel. My Easter ended with me covered head-to-toe in mud, my family all around me laughing. How was your Easter?