Happy Easter! A Big Fall, Jelly Beans, Bunnies and Family Fun...

Life holds so many mysteries. Things happen to you, and when you reflect on them it's easy to stand in amazement at the miracles before you. Thursday was one of those days for me. Let me back up a step...

I love ALL holidays, especially when they offer a chance for our family to get together. I love the planning, the decorating, the purchasing of food, the buying of balloons, the cooking, even the cleaning...all of it that leads up to the arrival of family at our door. The anticipation of seeing my beloveds, and their eyes as they walk in to see the balloons and gifts, just brings me pure JOY! Their smiles, giggles and hugs are all the reward I need. It doesn't matter the holiday, it's a time to celebrate at our home!

This week's holiday is Easter! While Easter has deep spiritual meaning for me, it also has the fun secular meaning of bunnies, jelly beans, dying Easter eggs, and making special Easter baskets for each family member and our close friends and neighbors. I've been hustling and bustling for weeks now. :)

And then Thursday came and with it a totally unexpected accident. I was at the College where I teach and where they had recently "triple-waxed" the floors. Folks there had been slipping and sliding since the start of spring quarter. A bit of an ice rink, if you will. I too had had moments of losing my balance, but this time, right before a meeting, as I came around a corner to come into an office I slipped on the wax and flew up into the air like a rag doll. I hit the ground hard, and my left leg with a knee that had already sustained three surgeries went in a direction it was not supposed to go. I landed all wrong, and hit my head with a loud "SMACK!" on the door jam. I was hurt and could hardly get my breath. Lots of caring folks gathered around, and expressed horror as I crawled along the floor to get into a chair and asses the damage.

Yet all I could think about (said with a big grin several days later) was...how in the world am I going to get our Easter celebration off the ground if I am hurt? How will I see my precious grandchildren gather their Easter eggs if I can't walk? How will all of the jelly beans go into the plastic eggs and the bunnies be put in secret places if I am immobile? True story. I know it seems irrational given the magnitude of the accident, but that was my first thought and prayer. Dear God, please let me be okay so I don't miss the family fun. There are lots of other family legends about the lengths to which I will go to not miss out...flashback to the broken ankle, adult children doing Ironman, I get a scooter incident. But that story is for another day.

As disheveled as I was right after the accident, I was reassuring everyone that I was fine, no sweat, no big deal. I decided to forgo the meeting, go home, ice my knee and ankle and leg and then head off to the doctor. I could hear in my head my Dad's favorite saying when he was alive:

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going!"

Even though I love that saying, I wasn't feeling very tough on Thursday. But while not feeling that vigorous, I was also so, so grateful. No bones were broken. I had, by shear intuition, put on my knee brace that day, so while my knee was bruised and sore, I did not re-rip all the tendons in my knee. I was a bit of a mess, a bruised and hurting mess, but a mess with no serious damage. Thank you, God, for protecting me! That's what was on my lips all night Thursday night, all day Friday and all day Saturday as we readied the yard and got things ready for this morning, Easter morning. A morning of miracles of another kind.

Miracles are happening every day in my life. I just need to open my eyes and see them! Let me be grateful for every one of them!

Now it's Easter morning and I have been up stuffing the plastic eggs that hold jelly beans and a simple, small piece of paper. Surely a different message than the one my dad gave me about being tough, but one I hope my sweet grandchildren will also remember years from now. They may forget the jelly beans, the baskets and the decorations, but I hope their hearts will preserve the message on the paper...

God loves you... and so do we!

Happy Easter from our home to yours! Let the family fun begin!
God Bless!
Love, Linda