growing together
Looking for the joy By Chris Worthy WNC Parent columnist
It’s especially cold today. The wind has chilled me to the bone each time I’ve had to brave it hustling to and from the car, even as the sun shines and sky forms a crisp, unyielding blue canopy. The weather sums up this year for me. I am filled to overflowing with gratitude and at the same time, saddened for my friends who have suffered so much. My children are healthy and happy and most importantly, making positive impacts on those around them. They aren’t perfect. Neither are their parents. I love my husband more than words can say, and I am continually amazed and grateful that he loves me right back. We have a warm home, our needs are met and we are lucky enough to have dogs as
the icing on our family cake. But I won’t be sorry to flip the calendar to a new year. 2013, I hope the door hits you square in the fanny on your way out. Intellectually, I know there are never years when suffering doesn’t abound. It’s always there. But never have I known a year where the degrees of separation for profound pain have been so few. In the past 300-plus days since the champagne popped and the fireworks exploded overhead, one of my children has buried two friends. Teenagers should not know such grief. Parents should not have to bury their children. I’ve seen multiple families disintegrate under the weight of poor choices, harsh words and betrayals. My friends have faced starting over without their partners. They’ve done so with grace that can only be described as supernatural. Friends have received dreaded phone
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calls from doctors and are left to wonder what the future holds. This year has been one for the record books, most certainly. But through the bitter I’ve witnessed patience and faith and joy that comes from the deep inner places. My hurting friends have grieved very public losses with glimmers of radiance coming through the cracks. They have received news that defies everything I know about goodness and hope and they’ve kept getting out of bed every day, even if only for their children. This is no small thing, this persistence of joy. Joy is not the same as happiness. I’ve lived long enough to know that. Joy is the thing that lets us brave the cold while we smile at the sunshine. It is the promise that summer is coming. I am thankful that I live in a part of the world where Christmas is celebrated in the winter, never more so than this year. And I especially thankful that the sun shines. The Son shines. Chris Worthy is an attorney who took down her shingle to be a stay-at-home mom. Reach her at chris@worthyplace.net.
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