Good Friday, Plan B

I had been looking forward, all week, to this weekend.  I love Easter weekend.  I love the services.  I love the family traditions.  I love the chance to be focused on what means most to me.  We were especially excited because I have been part of a women's prayer study since September and these women have become so special to me.  They go to a different church and it happened that our two churches were worshipping jointly for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  It may sound silly but all of us being together with our families meant so much to me.  I had been rehearsing with the Worship team and was singing on Good Friday morning and singing songs I love and we had get togethers with Dh's family set for the weekend as well.  It sounded like exactly the kind of weekend I was hoping for.  I had so many plans.

Then, the weather hit.

Thursday night's service was cancelled due to freezing rain.  That was disappointing but at least we would be able to see everyone this morning.

Then, Dh's family cancelled.  That was o.k.  I had known the weekend was going to be crazy-busy and we have plans in the next several weeks.  This would just mean more time for naps and reading.

Then, the power very dramatically went out this morning at 5 a.m.  (Having the power fully go off and fully come on again repeatedly for about 10 minutes before going off fully is an alarming experience!)  That was when I started to feel really frustrated.  Didn't Mother Nature realise this weekend was Easter?  Come on...

Then, this morning's service was cancelled.  Seriously?  Good Friday with no service?  What photos would I have for the memory wall this year?  What would make this special for the kids?  I had all of these ideas for what Easter should be and life was not cooperating.   You would think that after how many years of things not going according to plan, I would be able to roll with it but I'm still terrible at it.

I took about an hour or so of feeling really let down and then, I decided it was time to get over it.  Given what we are honouring, do I truly have ANY right to complain?  How ridiculous.  I am so very lucky, I have no right to complain, even if it wasn't the way I wanted things to be.  I feel so shallow even writing this because I was being such a baby but truly, Easter means so much to me.  While I am trying to be more grown up, I was just so sad.

Anyway, I decided that it was time to make new memories this year and to turn this into the Easter plan B that ended up being one of our best.  I started by trying to take some photos to capture other memories.

 There was my wonderful Dh, who remembered that he had bought a little propane burner to make me my tea in just this kind of situation.  Never has a cup of tea tasted so good.

 There was the family effort at bailing the sump pump.  If you don't live somewhere that you need one, consider yourself lucky.  This area is damp and if you don't have a sump pump, in the spring, you will have a basement filled with water if you aren't careful.  We had to hand bail ours every 40 minutes and that involved taking 10 - 15 buckets of water to the bathroom to pour into the tub.  We had some giggles as we managed to spill water on our feet.

Then, there was the skating rink outside.  It was actually very pretty if you didn't feel the need to go anywhere.  We had to run out to the grocery store (we have other friends who aren't able to see family, either, so we are doing an "Orphans dinner" on Sunday and I had to get ingredients for our Jello eggs - yes, Jello eggs, you can laugh but my family has always had this weird attachment to Jello treats at holidays) and we discovered a skating rink outside.  We spent about 30 minutes chipping ice to avoid killing ourselves and the kids discovered the joys of slipping and sliding.  The neighbour kids from over the road saw us having fun and decided to join us.  It was totally unplanned and totally memorable.

 Little Man's means to help chip away the ice.

 Finally, just before bedtime, the sun came out and the evening light shining through the ice on the trees was much prettier than you can tell from this photo

 

It wasn't a day of worship in the way that we had planned but after a day of listening to Taize, Hillsong and Chris Tomlin (yes, we are eclectic in our tastes!), reading and cuddling at home and having fun in the magical world outside, I feel like at least I was present and not taking things for granted.  I can't say that it was the most worshipful day in the way I had planned but I was reminded, yet again, of how lucky I am.



Oh and hey, I have some photos that will immediately remind us of a special year...