A Divorce Celebration

I love reading about your wedding anniversaries. I'm always so happy to see how you celebrate them, and to see pictures of you then, and now. It's encouraging that you have learned how to love each other, forgive, and endure for that long. 

I thought I'd do something rather radical and ask you to help me celebrate something that most of us want to crawl under a rock and hide from:  my divorce anniversary.  Now don't get me wrong -- I'm not one of those people who was glad to get divorced and went out and had a party the day I received the final papers in the mail. I loved my husband, my marriage, my life.  The whole thing was devastating.  But just because I no longer have a wedding anniversary to commemorate , there's still reason to celebrate. 

So raise your glasses with me to a few milestones that I never thought I'd achieve.  Here's to 12 years of learning how to forgive someone of a terrible, terrible hurt, of learning to be friends with him and his lovely wife, of learning how to keep my head up when i was terribly lonely, of being brave and stepping out in the dating world again, of staying positive for the kids when it looks as though your world is completely caving in, of learning how to manage finances on my own and find employment, of trying new things like traveling alone and getting a master's degree, of going to parties and dinners and church and school activities--heck, everything! alone, of starting my own business, of learning to love again, of learning to trust again, and of continuing to keep my chin up despite the desperately lonely times, of staying steady and trusting that joy is just around the corner when all looks bleak.

Cheers to all of you who have not only survived but thrived a divorce! I know how terribly difficult it can be so let's celebrate our success in getting to where we are today!