And the next...

Last year at this time I had just returned from an extraordinary weekend with friends. Where there was laughter and tears. Where the kids far outnumbered the adults. Where I went to nap for only 30 minutes and came down an hour later to happy kids and a smiling baby in a clean diaper and new outfit. The restorative nature of a nap cannot be overestimated. The gratefulness I felt coming upon that scene cannot be expressed.

I returned home a week before the second of the third turning point. It's annoying that there isn't just ONE anniversary to mark this summer. I have three distinct dates that I remember. Each one trying to show me how far things had gone/were gone. It took three solid lessons before I caught on. OR I did everything I could for as long as there was something to save. The third discovery merely proved, to me, that we were irrevocably broken. I don't regret needing that third episode. Because I know I gave all that I could for as long as I could. I take solace and pride in that.

But that weekend? These women, their kids (and the one brave husband), gave me exactly what I needed to begin the next year of my life. We didn't know it then. Then it was just pure and ease and joy. And laughter. By god, so much laughter. The purpose is so very clear now. The Universe really does give you whatever you need exactly when you need it. And when you have people who have loved you long before this pic was taken, you know that you and your kids are of the utmost importance and the love is because of and not in spit of. 1991 looked good on us.