When I think of the month of April I think of many things. Some of those things include Easter, spring, and many family members of mine whose birthdays reside during the month. Both my brothers, niece, father, great aunt, grandfather, and two of my best friends all have birthdays in April so the month is very busy.

This year I got the chance to fly to my mom’s house Easter weekend and do a combined celebration of not only Easter but also my brother’s and my niece’s birthdays. My niece Sophie turned five, so we got to throw a cute party which was by her design a rainbow and unicorn theme. It turned out so cute but the weekend? Not so much.

It all started with my flight being delayed due to the internet going out in the whole airport. Then once we were all on the plane it was delayed again, and we sat there for an hour waiting to get the approval to take off. My flight was supposed to land in Las Vegas by 3 p.m. and now is landing by 6 p.m. and I was not happy. I knew that it took still another half hour to get from the airport to my mom’s, so when I arrived, I knew that I already missed most of the party which made me sad. On the other hand, I at least got to see my mom, siblings and nieces for the first time all together in a while. Then my poor niece got a fever and then her younger sister who is two the next day got a fever as well. Then my mom and brothers both started to get sick on Easter Sunday and after taking care of them I started to get sick. I had to hold myself together to make my flight the next day and I shockingly made the flight and made it back home.

I made it through the week, I lost my voice and towards the end of the week I started to get a horrible sore throat and to my surprise I woke up that weekend and it all went into my sinuses, and I tested myself and I was positive for COVID. I was super upset, and I am writing this during my day five of quarantine even though this will come out after I am released from isolation and not sick anymore.

I have had lots of showers so far in this month of April, I am hoping that all of this is going to bring me some flowers next month.

I never guessed that this would happen but Lord it has been a rough couple weeks, just back-to-back issues. I am wondering, waiting to see when I will get a break.

The weather was nice, and Easter Sunday landed during rodeo weekend so I hope everyone had a great Easter and enjoyed the rodeo and all the festivities that came with the weekend.

I cannot believe that April is already almost over, the month is going by so quickly and it is insane. I feel like we just started 2023 yesterday. I am ready for April to just get over with at this point, I am over with the showers of life and ready for flowers. Even though I am not ready to welcome in the heat and warmer weather, I am ready to say goodbye to this month and leave everything that happened during the month behind.

Cheers to flowers, I hope that many are in bloom and fill the world with brighter colors than today.

Sarah Lawson is a former staff reporter for The Oakdale Leader, The Escalon Times and The Riverbank News; she continues to contribute a regular column.