Life Lessons...

I am a sucker for holidays. I love them and see them as a milestone to mark time by. I like to remember holidays past, where we were last year, and where I hope we are next year. Easter is yet another one of those markers. Coming this year, right after our spring break, it has been even more reflected on than usual as I had time to actually think and reflect, not always an easy task with a busy schedule!

This year Easter and the Easter season of new beginnings is especially meaningful to me as I look back on where I was a year ago. A year ago, I was in the middle of chemotherapy and facing radiation after that. I was scared, exhausted, sick, bald, aching....you name it. This year as I looked at my children in church yesterday, I was so grateful for just the ordinary things in life. Being healthy, having my family there with me, having a house and a job that is my passion, having made it through last year, and just the boring normalcy of life that has returned.

Never underestimate the value and power of normalcy- routine- stability. We feel that we should buy our children things, take them to neat places, spend lots of money on them- but really what benefits them the most is just being there for them, letting them feel they have something/someone they can count on, knowing they have food, a house, a parent who cares and makes them a priority. I hope I don't forget the lessons I learned this past year, one being just to appreciate each day the things that we most take for granted- the people and daily routines of our lives. Those are truly blessings - use this Easter season to remember to appreciate those things anew!

Happy Easter from FLS to you!