Friday, April 10, 2020

Good Friday Hope


I usually say "Great Friday" every year on Good Friday, but I don't feel like that this year. I wrote a story about finding comfort and solace in Wood Lake a week or so ago, and now I think I need a Wood Lake walk more than ever. My older brother, Rich, had a mild stroke on Monday night, and we can't be with him due to the global pandemic, so he has to deal with it all by himself in the hospital surrounded by scared workers and patients. I really am trying so hard to be gnarly and strong and have my chin all the way up, because I know how much more many, many people are suffering, but MAN ... there are moments where I don't even feel like trying anymore. So I look for hope. Like the little tiny blue flowers (Snowdrops!) poking out of the soil after a long winter! I haven't been in Spring in Minnesota for like 25 years, so these are true thrills for me, as well as HOPE that warm, sunny days are fast approaching.


I'm taking an online Yale class about happiness, and it's probably the best time ever to be taking it, because it actually has forced me to focus on what there is to be grateful about, and how I can extend more kindness to people around me.


None of this awful virus stuff was happening, obviously, when the class lectures were filmed, and I'm sure the Professor had no idea how hard her students would soon be struggling to find - and share - that happiness. Yet even amid all this madness ... you can still find it. Trust me. Like, there is a litter of baby kittens in a tree in my neighbor's backyard! Snowdrops and roses and whiskers on kittens ... !


There is an awful lot for me to deal with, much of which I don't speak about publicly, but believe me, it's a lot. But no more than so many people dealing with so much right now, and I keep telling myself that. I keep telling myself that this too shall pass. That there are so many silver linings. That I am SO fortunate, in the whole grand scheme of things. That the grass has turned green, seemingly overnight, and that this shows us all that there is an end to the darkness - another symbol of HOPE.


My family home is across the street from a church called HOPE Presbyterian, so there is a constant reminder of that hope right there. My family's church (Nokomis Heights Lutheran) left a surprise on our doorstep yesterday, which was a luminaria with an electric tealight, asking us to put it out each evening to symbolize HOPE for everyone. We will. And I will keep the hope alive in my own heart, as hard as I can. Please call me on it if you hear of me losing it. And keep on spreading the love, not germs (Window sign made by my precious Mom)!


Happy Easter Weekend to you all. The very weekend meant to symbolize HOPE. Love you.











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