Ash Wednesday, the first official day of lent.
This year, I'm going to spend lent a bit more reflective about where I am going as a person. I got the idea actually from my daughter who is reading from Justin Lucadoo's book 97 Random Thoughts and then following up with a journal entry about it. So in like manner, I'm going to be spending time in this blog.
My life as a married woman has come to an end. Yes, there are still many papers to be signed and a judge will preside and undo what I promised I would never see undone. I have mourned it for a year now, but it is time to move on. I look around the room and it seems as if nothing has changed. My momentos are still here, including the first present my husband ever gave me. I see crafts that my kids made when they were in preschool and elementary school. There are pictures and books and on the wall, a shelf made of oak, with a heart and our initials carved on the back. On a dresser is a jewelry box that he made for me the first year we were together. All memories of the past, many good, but still just in the past now.
I recently saw a video segment on the Today show talking about the importance of not bringing up the past with new people. I'm not ready to even consider another person in my life, but I do know that as long as I keep myself emotionally linked to my ex-husband I will kill off any chance of new friendships and commitments.
So, as part of lent, I will be removing the past and bringing in the new. Time to pack up what was. Of course I can't pack up the kids, and I don't plan to, but it is time to take the things that represented us as a couple out. I will pack them and put them away to give to the kids if they want them. I will replace them with new memories and make my life my own again.
This year, I'm going to spend lent a bit more reflective about where I am going as a person. I got the idea actually from my daughter who is reading from Justin Lucadoo's book 97 Random Thoughts and then following up with a journal entry about it. So in like manner, I'm going to be spending time in this blog.
My life as a married woman has come to an end. Yes, there are still many papers to be signed and a judge will preside and undo what I promised I would never see undone. I have mourned it for a year now, but it is time to move on. I look around the room and it seems as if nothing has changed. My momentos are still here, including the first present my husband ever gave me. I see crafts that my kids made when they were in preschool and elementary school. There are pictures and books and on the wall, a shelf made of oak, with a heart and our initials carved on the back. On a dresser is a jewelry box that he made for me the first year we were together. All memories of the past, many good, but still just in the past now.
I recently saw a video segment on the Today show talking about the importance of not bringing up the past with new people. I'm not ready to even consider another person in my life, but I do know that as long as I keep myself emotionally linked to my ex-husband I will kill off any chance of new friendships and commitments.
So, as part of lent, I will be removing the past and bringing in the new. Time to pack up what was. Of course I can't pack up the kids, and I don't plan to, but it is time to take the things that represented us as a couple out. I will pack them and put them away to give to the kids if they want them. I will replace them with new memories and make my life my own again.
