What's So Good about Good Friday?

It was my first newlywed spat in '86.
"We can't eat meat today," I informed my new hubby.
"What? That's crazy," Barry said. And he meant it as he ordered a pepperoni and sausage pizza.
"Make half of it just mushroom and olives then!" I insisted.

I was surprised by his audacity, and indifference. Who did I just marry? Didn't he care that he'd get a necrotic, coal heart for eating meat on this day? {No wait, my mother said that would happen if we lied, but I always felt just as awful on the rare times I forgot and bit into a burger on Good Friday.}

Barry's mom was spiritual. Surely, they followed this "no meat" rule on Jesus' crucifixion commemoration. Hmm, maybe not, or at least her son didn't.

But that was okay. We each celebrate holidays in our own way and to solve our hot debate, the new Mr. and Mrs. drew a line down the dinner plate. I stuck to my meatless side. No harm no.... fowl.

As a child, I was weaned on Old Wives' tales, hence the black, lying heart. We weren't Catholic-- or raised in the rigors of church-- until my teens when I enjoyed Sunday school and youth group on my own, even teaching it.
So we didn't get the ash stamp or give up our favorite thing for Lent or avoid meat on other Fridays, but my mom's Lutheran side of the family skipped carcass meals on the eve of Easter weekend. I think it was a nice way to honor the Lord's ordeal, and was just something they did, going back to someone's ancestors.

My first marital meat dilemma was a shock, but not really a big deal going forward since I was the cook most of the time. But regardless how we celebrate, I always had trouble seeing the good in Good Friday. Jesus suffered in such a horrible way, limbs stretched out, palms and feet nailed to the cross like a common criminal. Easter always held a sadness that Christmas did not.

Even among the brightness of a warmer season, rainbow eggs and Easter bunnies, the depressed taste remained---and not just from the accidental chew of a black licorice jellybean. What? That wasn't a dark purple one! So why is this a good day?

Finally, as the speedometer springs slightly past middle age, I think I know. It was pre-destined. It had to happen! Just like Harry Potter had to die to cleave the smidge of Voldemort before he could come back to defeat him, Jesus had to suffer and snuff his last breath to free us from sin, to give us eternal life! We--and more so He--had to get through Friday to get to the even better stuff on Sunday.

We have to break a Cadbury egg to see the amazing filling--and Jesus' death is the miracle inside the cave, even when the tomb is empty.
He is risen! He will appear again.
What does Good Friday and Easter mean to you? How do you celebrate?