It’s been a pretty good month for our family. Caroline is doing well in college, pursuing internships and staying involved with friends and organizations on campus. Frank is still participating in two sports, working and looking at colleges for when he graduates next year. Teresa will make her first Communion in May and is thrilled to have made a local swim team after trying out last month. Just writing that makes me feel anxious, like it’s too good to continue. If I embrace all the good things, then I will tempt fate, and the other shoe will drop — faster and harder than it would if I focus on the difficult things. If Caroline doesn’t come home this summer, we’ll miss her, and it will be harder for her to save money for next year. Frank’s schedule, for the next several weeks at least, seems almost impossible to me, with the SAT this week, four AP exams at the beginning of May, plus practices, track meets, hockey games and work. What if being on a team and having to go to practice makes Teresa decide she doesn’t really like swimming that much after all? Although even I have a hard time coming up with a downside to first Communion. It turns out that this fear of happiness — this uneasiness when things are going well — is a thing. It’s common enough to have a name (cherophobia) and it’s often caused by the expectation that too much of a good thing, or too many good things, will inevitably lead to a huge letdown. There will be letdowns and disappointments, of course. Nothing in this world is perfect, and all of us are destined for pain and sadness as well as happiness. But there’s no reason to think that enjoying the good things when they happen will make the bad things worse. What’s more, spending time worrying about things that might go wrong when things are going well not only doesn’t help prevent problems from cropping up, it stops me from appreciating the gifts that I have been given. Throughout the Bible, starting in the Old Testament, God tells his people over and over again, “Be not afraid.” In the post-Resurrection Gospels of the Easter season, Jesus comes to his frightened disciples and says, “Peace be with you.” He says it not once, but repeatedly — three times in the Gospel reading for the second Sunday of Easter. Maybe the disciples had a hard time with it, too. We are urged over and over again to let go of our worries, to remember that the things of this world are transient, to know that God loves us. That doesn’t mean not preparing for the future, or doing what we can to help things keep moving in the right direction. But it does mean not wasting time stewing over every possible pitfall, not choosing to draw the blinds and sit in the dark instead of enjoying the sun while it lasts.