Happy Easter?

Sadly holidays are very difficult for my "special" daughter, Teale. The excitement is high and the expectations are higher. We never seem to be able to match whatever is in her head for holidays. Therefore  often, holidays fail with our family. Mark or I have left more family celebrations with Teale than we have stayed at. Usually the deal is, if it is not working for Teale, I leave with her at his family functions, he leaves at my family functions. I have literally left my plate on the table and walked out with hardly a goodbye. Coming home to a quiet house usually helps calm her. She is often overwhelmed in crowds, so we try, but always have a back up plan, just in case. Today I am grateful to have no plans. Most families would find this sad, no big dinner, no guests coming, no place to go? I find it very freeing for our family. It means we can go with the flow of the day and not live up to anyones expectations. I do recognize the losses also, not doing something traditional makes today feel like any other day. We lose and we win with such a day. We often try to do traditional celebrations, we often have the big dinners, but this Easter we just felt worn. Teale has been off much of the week, not sleeping well and her moods have been tough to keep even. Today we will spend with just our "five family." My Mother in law will have the traditional Easter, church with one son and dinner with another. There will be no pressure here to have the house clean, the table set pretty, the children well behaved. We will just be us, eating and doing whatever we want. Hopefully, with any luck we will also get some peace together. Please pray for people everywhere who are struggling with mental illness like my sweet Teale.  Happy Easter everyone, may you feel loved and blessed!