New beginnings ...

This past weekend I attended my ex-wife's wedding. It was a lovely ceremony, held in an intimate and charming venue. She was a dazzling bride; her dress was striking and her smile radiant. Our beautiful daughter was one of her bridesmaids and our handsome son stood alongside his new step dad and brothers. The room was filled with family and friends, a number of whom I hadn't seen since we separated a dozen years ago. A dozen years; a lot happens in a decade plus. We went from an estranged couple to friends and partners in the raising of our children. Mind you it was my former bride who took the brunt of that chore. Separated not only legally we were separated by distance, my part challenged by that space and time. But we did the best we could do, we tried and I think succeeded, to put our children first. Of course it couldn’t have happened if we didn’t let some things go. My everlasting gratitude to my former sweetie for forgiving me for the disappointment I caused her so many years ago.

It wasn’t always easy for either of us to get to this point, but we did it and because we did it, our children know they are loved. They know that they will never need to navigate some hopeless and unbridgeable gulf between the two people who brought them into this world. For them it’s one less challenge on the emotional journey we all make through life. Hopefully they will also see that it’s possible to fail with grace, and that failing is just another step towards a different than imagined success. That love has many ways to be expressed and once expressed should always be respected, but more crucially, that we are never more important than those whom we create in love.