Happy Easter

If you celebrate Easter, enjoy this especially beautiful spring day. If you do not celebrate Easter, enjoy this especially beautiful spring day.

April is a tricky month. There are hints of softer days ahead, but the wind still has a bite and there seem to be many hours of work between us and long evenings on the patio. This year especially, much of the cold is not weather-related. We are chilled by the fear in us and the fear around us. Things are still really good for most of us, but we are increasingly conscious of the possibility of loss.

Loss happens fast. It happens fast whether it comes from accident or illness or malice. We know it. We fear it. But somehow, we never really expect it and we cannot quite believe it when it happens to us.

Joy is different. Good surprises can happen quickly but happiness grows like the spring flowers outside my window. The daffodils and tulips wait for a long time. When they finally poke their tips through the almost-frozen ground, it seems like they're ready. But they're not. They're beginning a new phase of quietly making their way into life. They won't bloom for several more weeks.

It's Easter, the season where sorrow gives way to good news. Good news, like tulip shoots, tells us that happiness is coming: it doesn't always mean happiness has blossomed.

If you're happy today, look at the blue skies and sunshine and be happy. If you're not happy, look at the blue skies and sunshine and hope.

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