{"id":2443,"date":"2014-12-01T18:09:24","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T18:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/testing\/ltmp_wp\/?p=2443"},"modified":"2015-11-07T18:24:45","modified_gmt":"2015-11-07T18:24:45","slug":"balancing-the-seasons-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/01\/balancing-the-seasons-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Balancing The Seasons of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though I know hardships don’t ever come at a “convenient” time, it always seems that the holidays bring about an extra dose of tragedy. I personally know several people who have lost loved ones in the last week alone. A few other friends have family members recently admitted to the hospital for a variety of illnesses. My heart goes out to them. I know the fear, the sadness, the confusion, the anger.\u00a0I remember it all\u00a0too<\/i>\u00a0well, in fact.<\/p>\n

Two\u00a0years ago, I remember sitting in the hospital waiting room, fearing for my father’s life & seeing people post pictures of their Christmas trees on Facebook. I thought, “Who gives a crap about your tree? My dad might not make it through the day, and you’re posting pictures of a Christmas tree like it matters? How trivial!”<\/p>\n

A week and a half ago, I posted this picture taken while my husband & I shopped for our first Christmas tree together:<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBeing able to post that photo symbolized a new season in my life. Though we are still without Papa, life has resumed a sense of normalcy. It’s a new kind of normal, and this year, I get to celebrate the trivial things, because (THANK GOD!) the important things are okay. (Merely typing that last phrase gives me anxiety, because I know how quickly things can become not okay.)<\/p>\n

The point of all this is that 2 years ago I thought Christmas trees were frivolous distractions from what really matters in life. This year, I see my first Christmas tree with my husband as the initial installment of a lifelong tradition – and that in itself “really matters” to me. In both scenarios, I am right.<\/p>\n

When crises strike, priorities shift, and nothing else matters but the well-being of the people you love. But the reason you want those people to be healthy & happy is so that you can go on to celebrate the little things again one day. The trick is to always remember the other side of it.<\/p>\n

When you’re in the trenches, you vow never to take for granted life’s little blessings. And that means celebrating<\/i> life’s little blessings when you’re able. Two years ago, I longed for the days when I could share Christmas tree photos on Facebook instead of medical updates on Papa’s condition. Those days are here. But it is important that I understand somewhere in cyberspace someone may be looking at my tree thinking, “Who gives a crap?” And to that heart that is hurting, I pause for a moment to offer you empathy, send you my love, and pray for the peaceful healing you & your family need right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though I know hardships don’t ever come at a “convenient” time, it always seems that the holidays bring about an extra dose of tragedy. I personally know several people who have lost loved ones in the last week alone. A few other friends have family members recently admitted to the hospital for a variety of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2444,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions\/2444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/letterstomypapa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}