To Thrive in Adversity

via Discover Challenge: Superpower

Health problems, financial stress…for reasons that I can not mention in a public blog, April of 2014 was the worst possible timing for my daughter Amber’s First Communion.

I had dreamed with a party in the same restaurant she had her Baptism…they asked  $2.000 dollars to do her First Communion there. I had imagined a 3 tier cake… bakeries asked $300 dollars for it. I remember my mother advising me to just buy the dress and do the church ceremony only… that was not an option for me!!

I’m a “brainstormer”, a “chess-player”… I can not think of an obstacle without thinking of 5 different ways to confront it. Even if many times this “quality” seems to torture me while I exhaust the possibilities… most of the times it is my Superpower – I turn adversity into challenges…obstacles into opportunities. I focus on the things I can change… and adrenaline kicks-in!

 So when I think of that month of April, I think of all my little steps into making Amber’s First Communion a “special” celebration.

I started with the pictures… Yep, no photographer was hired or picture session was booked. I sprayed painted a couple of frames, improvised a backdrop…and the day I took Amber to the hair salon to test what hair style to use on her First Communion day, we came home, put the dress on and took the pictures. Total coast – $25 dollars (frames and picture prints). I loved everything about these pictures… and I still do!

Being my house only a 2 minutes walk from the church, this was the location for Amber’s First Communion gathering, after the church ceremony. “Spring in Shades of Pink” was the inspiration.

…And furniture was moved around… I spray painted vases and bird houses… collected dry branches from local parks and glued pink fabric flowers to it imitating cherry blossoms… made party puffs… spray painted cans and balls to make games for the kids to play in the garden. Made Strawberry Jam for party favors, cooked a couple of dishes, ordered out a couple of food trays, made some deserts, family brought some more…

And I also baked the cake… it was not a professionally done 3 tier cake but, it was a 5 layer pretty shades of pink. When I cut the first slice and served it on a plate, I still remember hearing some surprised “awww”s and “ooohh”s …

To all this add a bunch of the best people in the world… their love and joy made it all just PERFECT! I wouldn’t change a thing!

Sometimes what you get is better than what you had planed.