Finding Joy in the Darkest of Times

Life always has it's hills and valleys along it's path. When you are in the valleys of life, the way you get through them is trying to find the joys in even the simple moments. There are so many twists and turns in life that sometimes we just try and hold on but often times, the best moments happen during the chaos or the sadness that we experience.

After my Dad was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer, our family started going to a Christian cancer support group. A lot of people have told me over the years that," there was no way that I can have cheerful childhood memories related to that group". What they did not understand, was that playing with other kids that were going through similar things with their parents made for some awesome play dates every week! The couple that started the support group also took all of us kids in as their own grandkids. They would go to school and church functions so that we knew that no matter what happened with our sick parents, we would never be alone. Those were some of my best childhood memories!

When the COVID-19 virus hit the world back in 2020, I remember making pizza with my family one night and that was one way of making a fun memory even if we were all cooped up in the house together. Quarentine was not a fun thing for anybody to go through, but we knew that we had to do something to put a smile on our faces during that dark time in our world.

Life can be super scary or depressing sometimes and that fact is already a given. I've learned that even in the worst ot times, you can make the best memories. A situation is what you make of it!