My Imagination of Happily Ever After

As much as we try to live through our children's creativity and imaginations, I believe they are underappreciated and we probably disregard them more than we should. I've been more in touch with my imagination lately, with all of these changes taking place in my life and it has made me believe that nothing is more powerful. It has helped me get through some personal challenges, in fact. I have been able to plan the life and outcomes I want by the things I have imagined, but it has also provided me with the motivation I need to achieve the unimaginable. I just read that the only limitations in life are those we IMAGINE ourselves. This is nothing but the truth.

Another thing we try to instill in our kids is COURAGE. Maya Angelou had it right when she stated that "courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently." Doing what you think is the right thing to do isn't necessarily easy. It can often be the smallest of gestures that some one shows courage. An example of this is sacrifice. This often goes unnoticed by others. I believe now that I am courageous. I have accepted some difficult tasks over the last couple of years and have set aside some beliefs, self-interests in addition to making personal sacrifices.

It's the common question: "What happened?!?" quickly followed by, "I hope you don't mind me asking". It's simple. We fell out of love. We got lost in life and everything that we had individually and as a family that we forgot what we had together.
We both want the best lives for our kids and are committed to that, regardless of our situation with each other. We make a great Mom and Dad team and that will not change (even despite the rumors and speculations..... and to those folks, thank you for the kind words and energy you've committed to discussing such things on your spare time. I'm glad you're thinking of us!).

I've heard that happy kids are raised by happy parents and I've told myself that for years. Although I've been "HAPPY", most of that was a direct result of our kids and their happiness. It was reversed for us, really. Happy kids made happy parents. Joe is an amazing father, and I like to believe my successes as a mother are proven and measured by my kids' happiness and respect for life. I truly believe they are happy kids and the last 11+ years of our lives have been committed to just that. Happy parents DO and WILL raise happy kids......but it doesn't mean the parents have to be happy together, just HAPPY overall.

Joe and I are at peace with our decision. It will be helpful when people can recognize that because hopefully it will help THEM be at peace with our decision as well, and not feel uncomfortable or awkward to continue including both of us in their lives (if we chose to have them in ours).

People always dream of the fairytale ending of "happily ever after" but I believe everyone has their own version or interpretation of that phrase.

Wishing you a "happily ever after" and as always, good health (mentally, physically and spiritually).