A (Not So) Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, in a time not so long ago there lived a girl. This girl was your average American girl. Not super model gorgeous, but she could hold her own. This girl thought she had it all. She was smart, funny, had a great job, wonderful friends, and smart kids. Who could ask for anything more?

One day the girl was walking through the forest (okay probably WalMart) and she stumbled upon a young man. He was a nice looking young man but nothing compared to some of the other young men she had met in her life. She chatted with him awhile. Found out he lived in a cottage nearby and walked this same path most everyday. The young girl said good-bye and went on her way. She didn't think much about the man again.

A few short days later, she stumbled across the same young man walking in the forest. She was pleasantly surprised to see him and they took a walk together talking the whole time. And soon, a friendship bloomed.

See the young girl and man had so much in common. They talked easily together and laughed together so much. They soon found out they were what some would call kindred spirits.

As the friendship grew the girl realized something. She realized that she had indeed been missing something in her life. She had been missing someone to share it with. See, this girl didn't really think she needed love, affection, and companionship from anyone. But what she found in the young man made her heart bloom into something she had never known existed.

Time passed, and the relationship became more intense, and serious. They young girl and man ate dinner together, played games, and watched movies together. They even talked about their dream of getting married on the beach.

But on tragic day, the young man told the girl that he was leaving. That he had been called to something in another land far away. He told her that this calling on his life was so great it superseded his love for her. He told her he would be leaving and never returning.

The girl was devastated. She was angry at him, at herself for feeling these things. She was furious that he would tell her the things he told her, make the promises he did, only to break her heart in the end. She didn't understand why he would go to all the trouble of building a relationship only to end it. She wouldn't be hurting so badly if he had left her alone in the first place. I mean, remember back to the beginning, the young girl didn't think much of him at first.

So the day came and the young man left. And the girl was left with her shattered heart and the job of trying to pick up the pieces. She vowed never to love again, she raged, she cried, and yelled. She even got really drunk and nursed a terrible hangover the next day. She thought about following him and begging him to come back.

So now the girl is on a new journey. This new journey will take all the strength she possess and them some. This journey is the journey of healing. Healing her broken heart and mind. Learning to forgive and let go. Learning to move on. And most importantly, learning that life can indeed be lived without the young man. As she sits at the beginning of this journey, she looks down the long road and doesn't see any hope of making it. She feels defeated before she even begins. But, she reminds herself, that if she starts now, soon she will be halfway down the road, and before long she will be at the end.

She even lets herself wonder if there is another young man out there. One that will hold true to her love, and not let her down. One that will be able to go all the way with her, and understand that her heart is a very valuable possession.

She knows there will be times when she thinks about her first love. She will wonder where he is and what he is doing. And maybe, after this journey of healing, she will even be able to wish the best for him. because she knows that he has a tough journey ahead of him too. Maybe even tougher than her own.

My Garden

A friend of mine recently shared her blog with me. On it I found beautiful pictures of her garden and neat treasures she has turned into decoration for her house. I stared at those pictures with envy, thinking, why can't I do that!! I mean, I have a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens and I watch HGTV!! But alas, my house remains boring and plain, I don't even have curtains in all my windows.

After I looked at my friend's pictures, I walked out to my front yard to look at my own attempt at gardening. Well, let me be honest. My sister and brother-in-law came over with a bunch of flowers and a fern one day and said, "We are planting these in your front yard to make your house look better!" I said, "Great!".

So now I sit and stare at what one could only call, remains, of my flowers. The last vestigages of my landscaping adventure. I wonder, what happened? What went wrong with my flowers? Then a nagging memory comes to mind. The memory where my brother-in-law said something about watering the flowers. Oh geez!!

They did so well at first, when it rained everyday. Now here we are in July and well no more rain just good ole Georgia heat. Hence, my dead flowers.

Whenever something like this occurs, I sit back and wonder if there is a lesson to be learned. Is there something I can glean from my flower venture for future growth. As with all life's experiences, I think the answer is yes.

The first thing I learned is that everyone has talents. And that to be most successful in life, we should work within the realm of those talents. Not to say we should never try something new. We should!! Trying new things keeps us alive and vibrant. This is where I realize that planting, landscaping, and maintaining plants is not within my area of talent. Therefore, it is harmful to green life everywhere for me to attempt doing so. But the point is, I tried something new.

Secondly, we should try to minimize the time we spend beating ourselves up for not being like someone else. Lord knows we all have our strengths and weaknesses. And that life has enough trials without adding the pressure of trying to be something or someone we are not. Instead, we should focus on our strengths and praise and rejoice in the strengths of others.

And the last, but most important thing that I learned from this planting venture is that I am not good at maintaining green life. I should avoid green things at all costs. It will only cause me stress in the future when I cannot maintain their..... green-ness.

So, instead of dwelling on this, I charge on into the future and toward the things that I do well like shopping, or talking on the phone, .... :)

Getting to Know the Blogger

I guess my first official blog should be a little introduction. You see, to get the most out of my blog you must understand a little about me, where I am coming from, and some things I have experienced.

Like most people, my view of the world is colored by my life as I have lived it thus far. Some of those views are very clear, and some are obviously a little skewed.

You see, I am one of those lucky people who a lot of "stuff" happens to. Most often because of my own choices and downright silly mistakes.

Let me give you a little insight into what I am talking about by giving you a brief list of some of these events to which I am referring.

Let's See..... there was the time I:

-drove my car with so very little gas that when I parked on the little hill at my friend's house, in the dead of winter I might add, my car wouldn't start and her dad had to go get me gas.

-was pulled over for driving 20 miles over the speed limit and broke down crying and told the officer I didn't know what my registration "looked like"

-got my car repossessed because I didn't feel like paying bills for a couple months. :)

-slipped on ice in the cold cold winter and went sliding under a friend's front tire and he ran over my knee.

Oh and I mustn't forget the best one...

The time I drove on an obviously flooded street, got my car stuck, and had to bail water out of the inside of my car and push it out of the flood.

Now after reading all these you probably think I need to sign-up for a 12 step program to get some help. But let me assure you, I am an extremely successful person. I am excelling in my career, my children do well in school, and I have lots of friends.

It is just this part of me, that seems to emerge sometimes. And people sit back with wonder and awe at how I can be so successful and do some of the things I do. Well, what I tell them is this, "It is exhausting to be me!"

So read my blog and enjoy. Remember, it is meant to be fun and enjoyable. It is meant to make you laugh. I mean, I laugh at me, so why shouldn't everyone else?