What the holidays are really about

Hi everybody.
I have a list of all the articles I want to write and all the themes that are waiting to be discussed but somehow, I wake up in the morning with this contemplative mood and change the article of the week. It’s the third time this has happened to me.
Easter is upon us and I feel that some of us have forgotton what it’s all about. That chasing presents all over town is not the most important issue, and we should start going back to the basics, really remember that this time is about love and togetherness.
I used to be such a spoiled brat years ago when it came to receiving presents. I mean, what could be more important than that? And see now, 15 years later, I couldn’t care less about presents, I just want to drive home to my parents and cuddle them… and my cats.
What prompted this mood of mine today? These following things:

1. One of our regulars came in yesterday to have his car repaired. He works as a street cleaner (and they make so much money in Austria) and is the kindest, nicest soul out there. He always comes in with a smile on his face and chocolate for all of us. Yesterday he was walking up the stairs, holding his granddaughter’s hand with a dead look in his eyes. He had just lain his wife to rest a day before, after a short and painful fight with cancer. She only lasted for 3 months. My heart broke for him. He told me he has 2 years to go to his retirement and has saved up a considerable sum of money to travel with his wife and enjoy this new chapter in their life. Sadly, it will never come to it.
2. A friend of mine lives in France, has a good job and a nice life there. Her parents are lawyers in Romania but they miss their daughter and want to move to France soon to be by her side. Yesterday, a drunk driver ran her dad over on the crosswalk. He died instantly. He will never move to France to watch his daughter mature and blossom.
3. I loved my grandparents dearly. I still do, love them, and I will cherish their memory forever. Last year, my gramps (the last one alive) tripped on my 30th birthday and fell. He broke his hip. I had to leave to go to work. He underwent a hip surgery, got better really fast and we were happy about it. To start walking at 87 so quickly was a true testimony of his will. I was planning to surprise him for his birthday but at the end of September, mom called me on a Saturday to tell me he had passed away in his sleep after a cold he caught while in the bathroom. Something broke in me, I never got to see him alive again because I was sure he would make it a number of years more. Never got to thank him for everything he has done for me. We had our ups and downs because we were so similar in some ways. My memory holds a vivid picture in my mind, when he used to pick me up from school in his red Dacia 1310. Today, I sometimes look at my boyfriend when he eats soup (because he loooves his soup) and think to myself: just like my Oti, a soup lover. OMG, I’m dating a combination of my dad and my grandpa:)) – of course in a non-creepy way –
4. My family has been through so much in the past years, going from a successful business to having to reinvent ourselves and losing almost everything. It’s hard to cope with failure while people you know and have cherished, helped for so long, turn their back on you and leave you to it. When you struggle, you feel a pain and frustration that makes you lash out at the ones you love, knowing that they are the ones that can take it. Some families crumble because of it, we get stronger. You never really lose everything as long as you have each other. Material things are not everything. Some die of cancer, having all the money in the world. You can’t always buy health, no matter how much money you have.
   

Today, I am grateful for what I have. I have a good life here in Vienna, I have my parents back home and they plan on moving here so we can all be together. I have a guy that loves me, his mother I adore, friends that are there for me and love. No matter what happens, I have love. And today I know, that is the most important thing to me. So today’s article is not about face creams and masks, makeup and clothes, it’s about trying to show you how much time we invest in superficial things and how sometimes life passes us by. This weekend, spend time with your family and loved ones, turn off your phone and just enjoy.
This article is a short one but it kind of sums up what I feel at the moment. I’ll be back next week with our usual topics.
Wishing you all a Happy Easter! Kisses darlings.