Back to normal?

               Last week, the husband of a friend of mine had surgery to remove cancerous tissue.  The day before the surgery, I received a message from my friend today thanking me for a recent message. She was look forward to getting the surgery over so life could get “back to normal”.

               In December, there was a Facebook post from a friend who was celebrating her tests that showed that she was clean from her cancer.  And now she wanted to forget about it and get on with her life.

               When my husband was out of work two years ago, I just wanted to him to get a job so we could get “back to normal”. And after he went back to work, life was not the same as before.  After being home for eleven months, our roles had change. It wasn’t a huge change, but in his time off, my husband had become involved in the day to day details of the house and so he had more questions about transportation and meal schedules.  I tried to get back into our “normal” routine, but it wasn’t the same.

               There are many good things in the “new” normal. 

·        Our house and routine are much more centered on our faith in God.  Nearly a year of unemployment leaves plenty of time for prayer and a need to lean on God to show the way.

·        My husband and now 16 year old son have an improved relationship.  They spent A LOT of time together, while he was unemployed.  They like each other – most of the time. 

·        We now split the transportation responsibilities more evenly as we have learned that the best place to talk to a teen is in the car.

·        Our budget is leaner.  Not eating out and spending only what we had to on clothes for almost a year has changed the way we shop.  We still enjoy terrific vacations, but eat out one night a week or less.  We also shop at more inexpensive stores for clothes.  Our teen loves the Nike outlet for shoes and was proud of his $15 purchase last year.

·        Less is good. With time to clean out and organize, we have managed to give away the things we weren’t using.  Those things that we moved from our old house ten years ago and still hadn’t used!

·        We are more sensitive to the needs of others. While we have always been fairly generous, we now are stretching our giving to 10% of our income.  We also are more willing to reach out to neighbors and friends who are experiencing challenges.

                Without sounding flip, I wanted to say to both of my friends that normal will be different.  A significant life challenge produces changes in how life is viewed, how things are accomplished and even what is important.

               Back to normal?  Not for us and probably not for them.  Yet the new normal can be an improvement.