Lessons Learned

Recently, I've learned...


Expectation is the root of all disappointment.  People are who they are, not what we want or hope them to be.  This doesn't stop me from having expectations, but you have to realize that when they are not met, disappointment is sure to follow.


My dad will drop everything for me.  We haven't had a stellar relationship, but he somehow knows how to tug at my heart-strings.  When I asked if he could come up and help me move some furniture, his only response was to ask when I needed him here.  I told him that the not-yet-ex asked me if I really wanted to ask my dad to come all the way here for that.  My dad didn't even skip a beat when he said "Why wouldn't you ask?  That's what we do."  


I do my best thinking when I turn off the lights and put my head on the pillow at night.  


When you don't know what to say, you can always quote Steel Magnolias.

"I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special."

"In a good shoe, I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good I buy a size eight."

"Honey, time marches on and eventually you realize it is marchin' right across your face."

"The only reason people are nice to me is because I have more money than God."

A family doesn't die in a divorce.  This past weekend, the not-yet-ex and I had to take a court mandated parenting class in order to actually get divorced (the county requires it for any divorce involving a minor child) Maybe this one sentence made it worth the $50 we each had to pay.  We were reminded that when it comes down to it, there is still a mom, a dad, and a child...and that's a family.  


I can dish out advice as the day is long, but I can't follow it myself.  


Creativity comes when you free your mind of everything else (totally easier said than done). Wine can assist in this process.


Music has been, and always will be, my escape.  I can find a song to fit just about every mood I have.  I connect with songs that say what I can't.  Right now, Florence + The Machine seems to be reading my mind and heart.  "And it's hard to dance with the devil on your back so shake him off."

I over think...everything.


I am proud to be told that I look like my mother.

This is a few years old...I look even more like her now that my hair is red.

A handful of loyal friends is worth more than an arm load of acquaintances.  This journey has absolutely shown me who my true friends are.


People can surprise you.  Recently, I was in Richmond visiting family.  I was talking to a cousin that I am not particularly close to about this journey and she said "The details don't matter to me.  I don't care what happened.  All I care about is you being okay and happy."  


Above all, no matter what, no one can take away the fact that I am and always will be Ethan's Mom