Something Good is About to Happen

I’ve been married close to four months now. It’s bliss except for the part where I gained 10 lbs and he lost 5 lbs in that time period. What? Do we need any more proof that God is a man? And no, I don’t think it has anything to do with Haagen-Dazs bars. Why would you ask me that?? He eats chocolate chips by the handful, remember? So I bought a 72 oz. bag of them at Costco last week. No more of this 12 oz. nonsense. For the last 30 years, I lived in a world where the chocolate chips could sit in the pantry for months, untouched. But I can adapt. I’m flexible that way. : ) You need chocolate? Come on over. Well, call me first to put in your request—that’s how Claudya does it. : ) It helps if you are my granddaughter but it’s not a must. Taylor calls pretty regularly to say, “If I bring over strawberries, will you make cake?” He has mastered the art of sounding ever-so-slightly-pitiful-enough to win me over. If you had ever tried my strawberry shortcake, you would know why he does this. : ) If you come to Sam’s baptism this Saturday, you can try it.

Since I last posted, a lot has happened. I inched 6 credit hours closer to my goal, one granddaughter was born, one daughter-in-law announced she is expecting our 10^th grandchild, my youngest child turned eight, and my ex-husband lost his wife of one year to cancer. That last item seems out of place in that list and you might think it shouldn’t concern me. I feel a lot of emotions regarding that situation that I will refrain from expressing here. She was the reason for our separation. I asked her to stay away from him and stop calling him and truly believed that eventually he would come back. Obviously, that didn’t happen. But the outcome today is the last thing I would have expected.

My life is full of family, joy, and light now. Of course, that may just be the Haagen-Dazs bars speaking. I just ate one. Or three. My memory's not as good as it used to be.  : ) I wish I could go back three years and tell myself, “Be still and know that it will be fine. It will be wonderful. Just have some trust that the future is bright.” I had a sticky note hanging on the wall where I would see it every day that said, “Something good is about to happen.” I was in such a low place emotionally that part of me had trouble believing it. Those sappy, happy affirmations are for everyone else, not me. I just have to accept my reality. But it turned out to be true. I know two and a half years doesn’t sound like long to wait for the love of my life to come along. But when you don’t know how much longer, it feels endless. And it’s painful.

So the outcome that I did not expect is that I am pain free. I am happy. I lack for nothing. I am lucky and I know it.

I am only taking one class (Cost Accounting) on a summer block schedule which means a semester’s worth of work is crammed into seven weeks. It feels like a vacation to only have one class so with my extra time, I work in the yard everyday which keeps my fingernails slightly dirty all the time. But I don’t care. The kitchen’s kinda messy but the yard looks good. So all is right with the world.