Hey everybody, hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Don't know if you have seen my pictures from Christmas a few weeks ago, but I had a great time with my family. My sister, Alyssa came down with her dog Dottie, and it was just great to see her. A few days later my cousins, uncles/aunts and grandmother all met in Hilton Head, SC to be with each other to celebrate Christmas and ring in the New Year. Overall it was such a great time. The second night we were in Hilton Head several of us played a game called Heads Up! It was such a good time with everybody laughing and being able to be with family was even better. I also saw Unbroken on Christmas Day, which I thought was a great movie and will do a later post about, then while we were all in Hilton Head, we saw The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, which was another great movie. Overall I am a fan of the Lord of the Rings and now The Hobbit movies. At the end of the day, it was nice to be with my family and to be able to relax and rest.
Christmas last year, I didn't post, because I was just getting going with this blog. It was also the first Christmas since my dad had passed, which was very different and difficult at the same time. Before I continue, I would like to say that for those that don't know, back in July 2010, my Grandfather a.k.a PopPop suddenly passed away from a stroke. As some of you may know, during that summer I was still in school at Kennesaw State University and was in Miami for the summer on a mission trip with CRU. It was a little different at that time because even though it was very sad and sudden, I was with a lot of other people, who besides my family back home were there to support and be there for me. He was a huge influence in my life and I think about him everyday, cherishing the memories that I have of/with him. Even though I may not mention him as much within this blog, he was very important to me and I still remember lessons that he taught me.
I remember reading a blog by Teryn O'Brien a few months regarding the holidays and having to deal with the death of someone you are very close to. Even though I have not met Teryn, I am inspired by her blog. I agree with her, just like her, for me Christmas has been tough the past two years solely because of my dad not being here. Christmas has always been a very special time for our family. My dad was notorious for taking videos of us growing up and opening our presents and sitting down to eat together. And I think the last one we had with him was even more special because of what it took for him to get to that point. Also, it was his 60th birthday, which happened to be 12/12/12. He also came to my sister and I's college graduation, which I don't know if there was a more proud person that day, than my dad.
They, (whoever they is) say that time heals. While that is true, it still is tough, and will be for a long time. When there are people, especially your immediate family members, like my father and grandfather, it's hard to get used to. You expect them to be there with you on those special days, and they are not there. And for me, I feel like I am the only one that feels that way. I think, I know this is supposed to be a happy day, but it just feels so different without them there and to be honest it doesn't feel whole. I also remember that I am not the only one who feels that and if you do feel that way, again you are not alone and God understands. Don't think that because you feel this way, that you are weird or something is wrong with you. It's understandable, because you are human and we are supposed to have real emotions. We should and are supposed to miss those closest to us who are no longer with us here.
As I write this, I also don't want people to get the wrong impression and think everything is just all sad in my life and that's the way it should be for other people. I also want to point out and remind people that there is hope and joy. First in Jesus Christ, for what he did for us on the Cross. For me, this is my greatest hope and joy thankfully. God also reminds me as I mentioned earlier, and I don't want you to miss out on this if you are reading right now. Remember the family and friends that you have with you right now. The love and support that you hopefully have even while you still may be dealing with things. For me again with this past Christmas, just to have been able to be with my family was such a huge blessing. I also think about how God through death brings life and other great moments in our lives. Probably one of the biggest moments is through marriage (no I am not getting married yet). On March 28th, in a couple of months my stepbrother and future sister-in-law will be getting married and sharing their lives together. What a great moment to be able to share with them, and it just reminds me that God can bring joy even when you feel like you have experienced so much tragedy and heartache in your life. Even when you may feel like love is hard to find or you think you may never experience it or you think you are just hurting so bad, that you don't know if love even exists anymore. God is HOPE, JOY, PEACE AND LOVE!!!
Teryn O'brien: http://www.terynobrien.com/: http://www.terynobrien.com/2013/12/19/becoming-aware-of-triggers-in-grief/
Alyssa Mastrianni: http://darcy-dearest.blogspot.com/
Unbroken Movie Trailer: http://www.unbrokenfilm.com/
Battle of the Five Armies: http://www.thehobbit.com/
Thanks for Reading and God Bless,
Patrick Mastrianni
