First of all... happy Easter! Sometimes I think Easter gets lost in the shuffle of holidays. As commercialized as Christmas is, there's this huge build up with buying presents and the decorating that I can at least hope allow people to prepare for the true meaning of it all. On the other hand there's a little bit of pre-Easter talk with Ash Wednesday and Lent leading up to Palm Sunday... maybe some Easter basket shopping but just not nearly to the magnitude of Christmas. I don't know that you can really compare the greatness of the two holidays... you need Christmas to have Easter... Jesus has to come to earth before he can die and rise again but I find such a peace from Easter.
I am so grateful I had the opportunity to spend Easter with my family for the first time in four years. My parents drove down to Winston-Salem, a midway point between my sister and I. We did some touristy stuff... ate way too much... spent a lot of time in the close quarters of a hotel room... but it was just really good to be together.
There's been quite the hoopla surrounding the book/movie The Last Song. A bunch of the girls went and saw it last week, but I have this thing about waiting to read the book first. I'm a loyal Nicholas Sparks fan and thankfully "the easter bunny" gave me the book in my basket. I finished it tonight and of course now I can't wait to see the movie.
I've seen the movie previews and knew there was something about the relationship with the girl and her father but I felt like the focus of the movie is the relationship between the girl and her boyfriend... or at least that's where the marketing seems to be focused. SPOILER ALERT (don't read ahead if you haven't read the book or seen the movie and don't want to know what happens!)
Don't get me wrong... I became a fan of Ronnie and Will early on and knew their relationship would have its obstacles but I really latched onto the relationship between Ronnie and her dad. I caught the foreshadowing and knew something was wrong with him... that there was more to the story about Ronnie and Jonah's summer stay and more to the story about the parents' divorce. Still knowing that something was going to happen didn't keep me from sobbing reading about his battle with cancer.
I've obviously seen the effects of cancer too often, but Steve's fight with stomach cancer hit too close to home. During my senior year of high school one of my best friend's mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer and it attacked her body so fast and so badly. Mrs. Diane was larger than life to me. During my junior year of high school I spent as much time as possible with her daughter Erin and our friends Kami and Betty. The three of them were all a year older and I dreaded their graduation. Mrs. Diane took us all in like her own whenever and as often as we wanted. She was at nearly every soccer game and I loved her sense of humor.
Erin came home one weekend in late September or early October during my senior year and broke the news to me that her mom had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. I didn't really know what that meant but I knew cancer was never good. That fall was hard... Erin e-mailed me to vent and I felt helpless. I tried to be there for her... I think we all did, but we were all treading through unfamiliar territory in different states not sure what to do next. I remember Mrs. Diane coming back to see me play one of my last high school soccer games and just feeling relief to see her there. In March we got an update that after removing her stomach they found cancer in her pancreas and had to remove her gall bladder and pancreas. How long can someone live without half their major organs? Memorial Day weekend I went to say goodbye and it amazed me, but didn't surprise me, how strong Mrs. Diane was... she never lost her sense of humor with us no matter how much she must have been hurting. That summer I went to work at my usual summer camp and dreaded the phone call I eventually received July 12th telling me she didn't make it. I made it home in time to go to the service... one of the hardest I have ever sat through. Such an amazing celebration of Mrs. Diane's life but it just made me miss her more.
The Last Song just took me back to Mrs. Diane and reading about Steve passing just reminded me of the pain she went through. While I probably would have cried for the fictional character regardless of my connection with his ailment... tonight I cried for Mrs. Diane. The pastor told us at Mrs. Diane's memorial service that her favorite passage was Psalm 100 and I have it marked to always remember... knowing I couldn't ever really forget.
"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:5
I am so grateful I had the opportunity to spend Easter with my family for the first time in four years. My parents drove down to Winston-Salem, a midway point between my sister and I. We did some touristy stuff... ate way too much... spent a lot of time in the close quarters of a hotel room... but it was just really good to be together.
There's been quite the hoopla surrounding the book/movie The Last Song. A bunch of the girls went and saw it last week, but I have this thing about waiting to read the book first. I'm a loyal Nicholas Sparks fan and thankfully "the easter bunny" gave me the book in my basket. I finished it tonight and of course now I can't wait to see the movie.
I've seen the movie previews and knew there was something about the relationship with the girl and her father but I felt like the focus of the movie is the relationship between the girl and her boyfriend... or at least that's where the marketing seems to be focused. SPOILER ALERT (don't read ahead if you haven't read the book or seen the movie and don't want to know what happens!)
Don't get me wrong... I became a fan of Ronnie and Will early on and knew their relationship would have its obstacles but I really latched onto the relationship between Ronnie and her dad. I caught the foreshadowing and knew something was wrong with him... that there was more to the story about Ronnie and Jonah's summer stay and more to the story about the parents' divorce. Still knowing that something was going to happen didn't keep me from sobbing reading about his battle with cancer.
I've obviously seen the effects of cancer too often, but Steve's fight with stomach cancer hit too close to home. During my senior year of high school one of my best friend's mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer and it attacked her body so fast and so badly. Mrs. Diane was larger than life to me. During my junior year of high school I spent as much time as possible with her daughter Erin and our friends Kami and Betty. The three of them were all a year older and I dreaded their graduation. Mrs. Diane took us all in like her own whenever and as often as we wanted. She was at nearly every soccer game and I loved her sense of humor.
Erin came home one weekend in late September or early October during my senior year and broke the news to me that her mom had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. I didn't really know what that meant but I knew cancer was never good. That fall was hard... Erin e-mailed me to vent and I felt helpless. I tried to be there for her... I think we all did, but we were all treading through unfamiliar territory in different states not sure what to do next. I remember Mrs. Diane coming back to see me play one of my last high school soccer games and just feeling relief to see her there. In March we got an update that after removing her stomach they found cancer in her pancreas and had to remove her gall bladder and pancreas. How long can someone live without half their major organs? Memorial Day weekend I went to say goodbye and it amazed me, but didn't surprise me, how strong Mrs. Diane was... she never lost her sense of humor with us no matter how much she must have been hurting. That summer I went to work at my usual summer camp and dreaded the phone call I eventually received July 12th telling me she didn't make it. I made it home in time to go to the service... one of the hardest I have ever sat through. Such an amazing celebration of Mrs. Diane's life but it just made me miss her more.
The Last Song just took me back to Mrs. Diane and reading about Steve passing just reminded me of the pain she went through. While I probably would have cried for the fictional character regardless of my connection with his ailment... tonight I cried for Mrs. Diane. The pastor told us at Mrs. Diane's memorial service that her favorite passage was Psalm 100 and I have it marked to always remember... knowing I couldn't ever really forget.
"For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:5
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