Many families are mourning the loss of the ability to celebrate their spring religious observations or participate in the community events that are traditionally held in the spring. As much as we as a culture have come to treasure these observations and celebrations in the traditional manner, we have been provided an opportunity to create new memories and traditions within our immediate family. Traditions and observations that your children will carry in their hearts forever, because they included you!
When I sit around with my brothers and sisters and reminisce about the things our family did while we were growing up, we focus more on the people who were present than where and when these events occurred. We talk about the traditions and observations we did around our Easter dinner table; we talk about the things my parents would say, the stories they would tell, the legacy they passed on to us. That is what we remember now that we are adults and look back fondly on our childhood, these are the things that matter to us.
As a military family who has lived around the world, we often found ourselves in situations that were out of the norm for our family, where life wasn’t like it was back home. We sought to make adjustments to our norm in order to create memories for our children. When my youngest son was in high school, we lived in Guam. Guam is where America starts its day, so it is hours ahead of the rest of the country, fourteen hours ahead of the east coast to be exact. The only thing in our lives that was affected by the time difference while we lived there was NFL Football. There is no Sunday football in Guam, if you wanted to watch football live you had to be up in the middle of the night between Sunday and Monday and hope that one of the networks was carrying the game. This also meant that the Super Bowl was on very early on Monday. The high school football team did not go to school that day and most commands had the day off, because they were home watching the game. It also meant that you did not have the average football food during the Super Bowl, you had breakfast. This became a family tradition while we were in Guam, all of my husband and son’s friends would come to our house for a breakfast extravaganza. Now that we live in Connecticut and my son is stationed in Washington, he still associates the Super Bowl with breakfast food and any time he is home for the Super Bowl this mama is making breakfast for him. When he and his friends look back at that time, they talk about the people that were there and how much fun it was, they never talk about how it was different than what they were used to. They remember the memories that were created and that is what they hold dear.
So, even though your observations and celebrations will look different this year and may not be what you are used to, what your children will remember are the memories that they created with you. Look for ways to observe and celebrate together as a family, ways that will honor your beliefs and traditions during these difficult times. Your children will remember how you went out of your way to keep things as normal as possible for them. Today, they may be upset about not being able to go to the annual egg hunt, but when they are adults and become parents themselves, they will remember how you went above and beyond to make sure that your family celebrated the things that were important to them.
Finally, CELEBRATE! I know this is a difficult time, but if you normally celebrate and observe traditions in this season, make an effort to celebrate hope, however, that looks for your family.
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