Gifts

“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.”
~Voltaire

In consideration of the above quote, how would one define “living well”? I looked it up and what came across was “A state of health, happiness, and prospering:”

It is interesting enough but still somewhat vague. What state of health, define happiness, and by what measure does a man prosper?

A have been part of what the world would have considered a very prosperous life and yet happiness was never found within those walls. Now, as a family we struggle and yet choose to enjoy the journey within reason and without extending ourselves. We play much more than we ever did and do it on a lot less money. I can’t even describe how relaxed we are even as we tread through this turbulent economy. I found it so ironic that if the world would try and convince you that money brings happiness, those with it would be the first to disagree. It makes life a bit easier but it is in the struggles that we find our true happiness.

So here I am, now trying to define living well and when I wake up every morning something is changing. I used to be angry that my life was where it was at, that some of my daily activities were forced on me. I realized that has changed, I seem more content, more at ease and I know that even though this life I have now may not have been what I wanted or expected it is still much better than what I had and for that I am eternally grateful. How can you not be?

There is no fear or anxiety anymore. I am at peace and constantly striving for a sense of wholeness but the reality here is that life in itself is a journey. I am supposed to be striving for just that; a sense of fulfillment that only comes with maturity and age. The angst of an impending anger is gone for me. As I interact with my family I have the expectation of respect and the patience of understanding. Oh sure, there are still disagreements but they are resolved and made peaceful much sooner and we feel the need to be peaceful which never existed for us before. I believe the changes that were needed were self involved and required boundaries that I set up which then gave my children the permission to be safe and whole. I find it so interesting that if we desire something from someone it is easy to find the answers within ouselves to facilitate the change in another. There are always exceptions…. If the other person doesn’t want the change, nothing you do can facilitate it. Manipulating a change is a short term answer that will soon revert back and bite you right in the arse. Now, that’s not good. For anyone!

I am living well now and when I wake I look so forward to the day ahead. Even when I know hardships are ahead for me they seem that much more surmountable because of the peace and serenity I have within my very soul. I have heard people say they are happy and now I know exactly what they mean. You can have hard days, terrible days. It is the way you bounce back that your emotional health can be equated.

I am Indian Rubber, bouncing back harder and stronger than I ever have before. Thank-you all for helping me find this within and without so living well could be realized by my family and me. We owe you!

Simple Things

“It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.” ~ Donald Miller

Our Easter holiday is over and I dropped K1 and A off at the airport Monday morning. I can’t even begin to tell you just how much this holiday meant to all of us. We come together in such a beautiful way and are fully learning to enjoy each others company without the past inflicting it’s wounds on us anymore. Peace is so a part of it all and now we are spoiled, it defines the holidays.

There have been times that I wanted all the healing to be done, all the effort completed and my life completely back to normal. Then comes the conundrum. What is normal? Yeah, that’s a loaded question. Who defines it and what does it mean and how, if at all, can you tell if you have come to it?

So, with everyone milling through my house on Sunday, the kids anxiously waiting for the Easter Egg Hunt and the other adults conversing I just sat and looked upon the scene and sensed that normal was finally upon us. Sure, S punched H in the nose and W raised his voice at S but this is all the normal interactions of a happy and functional family. How can anyone judge another’s family interactions? What was once is now gone and what is….. Is so absolutely beautiful it is divine! I have been so blessed.

I remember praying sometime back for the drama and the pain to just cease. It felt like it would never end and that the torment and heartache would always be a part of life and living and that it would infuse its web throughout it. I am happy to say that it does lessen and at times even feels like it is gone but the most astounding thing is the way your heart changes, how it evolves. It’s as if your heart becomes protected and while you put your energy into the healing process, it encases itself in a spiritual bubble and it strengthens. The sad irony of all of this drama is that it can only strengthen because of the heartache. You must feel the pain to know the joy. It’s what we agreed to before we even came here; ironic, isn’t it?

I am in a huge transition now. I am learning to trust again and to let others into my family’s lives. My kids are ready too. They are excited to see me dating now, which, by the way, I have just started doing. Dr. W asked me to wait a year and it has been, above all else, the best advice anyone has ever given me in regards to my healing from this divorce. My thought processes are so different. I think more with logic than my heart and when I feel confused my head has a stronger say they my wounded heart. You can’t trust a wounded heart to make good decisions.

I know when the time comes to really allow the heart to open it may take a great deal of trust. It scares me to think I may need to trust another with this fragile heart of mine. It’s exhilarating and frightening all at that same time. I like that right now, I have friends. I prayed for a long time for the Lord to soften the hearts of the men I was meeting and that they would know that friendship is essential and He has done that. I have friends now.

There is never a point when you are going through a divorce where you can truly just rely on yourself. I have always trusted those who have led me in presiding positions and in the spirit as I have endured and orientated myself through this unfamiliar terrain. I am so grateful for all the Big Guy has done for me, I am in his debt.

My heart is stirring and I am learning to trust again. My kids are happy and I am happy. This is something that had you asked me even just a year ago if it would be possible I would have doubted. I was so wrong. Happiness is around the corner it just takes it time in coming. The more patience you have the more this feeling will be with you for a longer time. Patience and understanding God’s timeline will reveal the absolute healing the atonement offers. I am so grateful for the Big Guy’s timeline and for those who helped me to understand that His timeline is so much healthier that what would have been mine.

I have been truly blessed.

Charlotte

"You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous
thing. I wove my webs
for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life,
anyway? We're born, we
live a little while, and we die. A spider's life
can't help being something of a
mess, with all this trapping and eating
flies. By helping you, perhaps I was
trying to lift up my life a trifle.
Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a
little of that."

Charlotte, "Charlotte's Web"

E.B. White

When I think of all the books I have read and the messages inherently found in each book, the ones that have left the greatest impact have always come from juvenile fiction. It’s as if, in the great books for young adults, the authors know the message must be hidden and subtle but be so profound as to change the young readers mind without them even knowing. My life has been challenged often by these well intentioned messages.

Friendship is such a unique and treasured human experience and one to which I have great debt. I have such incredible friends and owe such a debt of gratitude for the way that they have helped me. Their wisdom and advice is so heartfelt and treasured.

I chose, very early on, when I knew I was going to be getting divorced to surround myself with the most quality of women to whom I had the greatest of admiration for the journey they had taken through their divorces. This was not a bunch of pity party Relief Society sisters getting together for bitch sessions. These were high caliper women who had taken the high road and to whom I knew would give great advice. I remember feeling exceptionally selfish and even worded those thoughts to my Bishop. He shrugged and said that at any time in my life to have that kind of selfishness it was then, he felt it was forgivable.

So here I am, almost 5 years later and I know I would never have been able to accomplish what I have without those incredible women in my life. It’s funny, we laugh and share now and mostly when we reminisce I understand that above all else, the Lord has truly blessed me with the gift of amazing friends.

I went to the temple the other day with someone I hold so dear in my heart. She is my icon, my hero, my mentor. We were laughing because I have just started dating and all the feelings are so confusing and terrifying and leaving me feeling very helpless. She had just begun dating last summer and while we shared, we laughed and I realized with a sure certainness that she was my sister before I even came here. As I shed a few tears of the left over frustration I knew that though she has assured me over and over again that I am my families anchor for the gospel, she had, for all intents and purposes, become mine.

The last of the upheaval and uncertainness is wearing and the stability of a healthy emotional life is upon me and my family. I owe so much to those who have supported and aided me. My only hope is that I can be of the same help to another and that I can return the service so as to make another’s journey easier. I hope the Lord sees fit to allow this.

So what am I on about? Having a being great friends. This is a blessing God granted us. I am in debt.

"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."

~Erma Bombeck

My house and my heart is full. I woke this morning to bodies all over the couches and floor and in the bedrooms and the warmth that only a full and happy home can bring. No breakfast, just a run to Timmy's and a walk for the Rockmiester. This is family....this is eternal, this is what the Savior meant when he spoke about Christ like Love.

All of the work, effort and the heartache was worth it when I know that what is happening right now will be my life for a very long time. You know, when I see my girls interact and know just how much RIVER had to go under the bridge for that to happen; my goodness, it was SO WORTH IT!

I know what is required of me now for the healing to be complete and the damage left behind. I dedicate my actions and my thoughts to those goals. I will purge the last of the heartache and misery and no longer be affected by pointless accusations being slung to upsat this life we are builing as a family. I am a righteous woman who has a slightly dysfunctional family who understands fully the concept of unconditional love...God's love.

What am I thankful for? I am grateful for the bodies I steped over this morning; for the mess I had to clean up and for the noise that lulled me to sleep last night. I am grateful for knowing that family is more than just the dedication of a man to a woman but can also include the love that they can so freely share towards the children God gave them the privilege to raise. I am grateful for His wisdom in allowing others to have me understand unrighteous dominion and call a spade a spade and for allowing me the right to not own what isn't my to own and for helping me through the forgiveness process for what was. And mostly; for amazing kids who forgave me so we can truly be HAPPY!

I love you K & K & K & D and all the others that bring such JOY into our families lives!

Winnie's wisdom!

If ever this is tomorrow when we're not together; there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we are apart. I'll always be with you"
-Winnie the Pooh

Holiday time. I love holiday time. It’s Easter and guess what? We are all together again. Did I say how much I love being together with my kids, my family? There is nothing that can even compare to being and loving these amazing kids and sharing it with those that dare to.

We are heading out to the zoo here very soon so I need to get this post done post haste. We had a sleepover last night and a wonderful “German Pancake” breakfast. I can’t begin to tell you what this is like for me. My children are so happy, we are so happy and though it could have been challenged, it wasn’t and that speaks volumes all within itself.

We have visitors this Easter, friends...lovers... and those we just consider family and they add volumes to the Function in our dysfunctional family. I have learned that we have come to terms and know those feelings that help us be the family we are. How can I ever complain about my life when this life I have is full and happy and ZEN!

So Chinese food tonight and a movie on the BIG ARSE TV. Popcorn and pop and the deck for those who so choose.

This is where I am just grateful for the exits that needed to happen so that peace could finally reside!

When it’s time for me to finally leave this earthly existence I will always be so grateful to the Big Guy for giving me to the courage to free our family and learn that all we have now was possible because this is truly eternal!

Parents

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

~ Anne Frank

My life is changing so much with each new day and I am reminded that with each passing of the sun through the sky it is for the better. This was witnessed to me the other day in one of the most unusual ways.

A dear friend is struggling with a decision that has been made more challenging by her past issues. Her mother died when she was young and an absent and uncaring Father has obscured her decision making processes. For what would seem very easy for you and me to decide, she struggles with abandonment and loneliness. The fear of alone forces her to accept situations that neither you nor I would ever see as a possibility. It is painful to watch and draws gratitude to my heart that I had my Mom as long as I did.

We sat in my kitchen with K2 and then it happened. A different perspective that was unheard before. K2 has a firm grasp on boundaries and expectations and pronounced her wisdom on us.

"No woman need settle; a belief that you offer more than is offered will bring quality into your life".

Her advice was heart felt and profound and as I watched this beautiful daughter live her life I can see great strength in her path. She is still young and with maturity she may be able to understand the angst of a mid life single situation but the basics of her wisdom is applicable to any generation. It is in the settling that we find dissatisfaction. A settled life is a compromise for a comfortable life. If that is what you seek, then by all means; but for those of us who choose to fly, it is only other fliers that need apply.

Just after my divorce, fear was so real. The aloneness seemed to overwhelm me and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Dr. W asked me to not date or seek a companion for a year. I followed her advice with a few blips but for the most part, it wasn’t that difficult because of the circumstances I had found myself in for that year.

On the anniversary of a year since my divorce I reflected on the differences in the way I was feeling and acting then to now. I was astonished. If I had ignored her request I could have seriously just repeated the same mistakes that got me into this situation in the first place. Sometimes wisdom comes in a way so basic that we fail to see its vitality to the life we are in at the moment.

So what am I on about?

As I sat there and heard and watched my daughter I realized that all that I had left to give her was my example. She was now an adult. A great one at that and what she knew of dating was ten fold what I or my friend knew as we both had married so young. Her greatest advice was in the finding of our own self worth and in the exercising of its importance in our life. She may never fully comprehend how she knows or why she practices her guidelines for herself so well but when I thought about it, as warped as this may sound, my daughter truly knows of her infinite worth, probably better I.