The Backwards Holidays – Don’t Loose Hope

So I started getting in the mood for the holidays with all the lights, food, friends, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year, very early.  I planned to go to every tree lighting and Christmas celebration.  I was so excited to have fun with my little girl.  Then my reality hit.

My reality is that I cannot control when a wave of grief will hit.  My reality is that with my little girl in a twice a week childcare program, we get sick.  My reality is that non-profit director work doesn’t seem to have a down season.

So the holidays were not all merry and bright, but there were some really good times.  I do feel blessed to have opened the first presents right before she got massively sick, and then to have both of us feeling good on Christmas day.

When I look back at these photos, I want the joy is her eyes be my take away.  We got knocked down, but there is no reason joy cannot return tomorrow, next week or next year.  I didn’t do all the things I hoped the last few weeks, but I don’t have to give up.  We can do the things we want tomorrow.  We can make this weekend special.

So this is my don’t give up post.  Maybe things have been harder than you expected for longer than you expected, but that doesn’t mean it will always be that way.  A new day, a new weekend, a new week, a new month, and a new year are right around the corner.  Yesterday is gone.  Today will be gone in a moment.  It’s time to embrace hope.

“I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”