The girls’ spring break is over (it was a pretty mellow one for them; after we got back from Vegas they mostly hung out), and it was back to school for them this morning.

Zoe couldn’t wait to return to her classes and friends: She said at dinner last night how excited she was to get back, and she had her outfit laid out before she went to bed. Avery on the other hand was less excited, and I had to smile at her reaction to her alarm this morning. “I don’t want to go to school,” she groaned. “I need more break!”

-M

As mentioned below, Avery came home from school feeling under the weather one day – little fever, headache and cough. The good news is that it wound up not being the flu, strep throat or pneumonia (she was tested for all of them) but the bad news is she was sick for a while, she wound up getting her sister sick, and both girls felt crummy during our Vegas trip for Passover. Luckily, they were pretty good patients. (And they did get well enough to have some fun – photos coming soon.)

-M

The first-year anniversary of my parents’ accident – April 11 – came and went. I flew to Madison to be with Sandy, and we spent time talking and reminiscing about them with my parents’ minister before going to the cemetery that afternoon with our cousin Aimee. At the gravesite I read a letter Avery had written to my mom and dad and placed a stone that Zoe had sent from home.

Q and the girls, meanwhile, stayed home and lit yahrzeit candles. They had been planning to go to synagogue on Friday night, too, but Avery came home sick that day.

It makes me feel good that, despite my parents not being Jewish, we can use Jewish ways to honor them – and that my parents were likely the focus of the prayers and thoughts of people from many different faiths that day. It reminds me of just after their death – how I spoke with two rabbis and two ministers within 36 hours of the accident and how I received comfort from the words and prayers of each one of them. For me in those moments, and in all moments since then, religious differences just disappeared; all I was left with (and continue to feel) was love.

-M

I haven’t felt much like writing lately: Work is extra hectic, and the one-year anniversary of my parents’ death is looming. I have many thoughts on grieving, and how the normal concept of time doesn’t apply to grief; someday I’ll share them, somewhere, but I feel a bit too worn out to get them down on paper now.

Still, we’re all hanging in there – with Q and I keeping busy with work, the girls and a home renovation project; and the girls keeping busy with school, friends and Maddie. My dad (and my late Uncle Al before him) used to talk about life being like a conveyor belt – and, indeed, it has kept moving even after my parents dropped off.

When I got to school yesterday I noticed a gorgeous little cherry tree that had blossomed right next to a bird of paradise flower. I quickly took a pic with Avery (Zoe was finishing up basketball practice) and thought about how my mom would have really liked it. It seems like an appropriate time to share it here, then.

-M