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February 10, 2010

hanging in a dream ~ randomness in my head

in the village where i live

Working valentines day is cruel and unusual punishment. This is the third one in a row i have worked. Last year the attempt to reconcile my marriage was rapidly coming to a close. The final silent moments of a marriage banging around in my head while i served table after table of happy or pretending to be happy couples.

I don't feel bitter this year. I feel happy. I am happy with the place my life is at. There are many things to change and look forward to. There are gardens to grow and children to flourish. There is a home to be filled with love and kindness.

I have finally, i think, come to a place where i have forgiven myself. I have truly forgiven myself for mistakes i made.

It is not easy for me to say that out loud, but there it is. I am happy to have had the marriage i did. I am happy for the love that was there. The children that we had. The years that we shared. Good times and bad, it was a magical ride.


Posted by drowninginkids at 12:01 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

April 19, 2009

props to mend the broken hearted

Shane has been working hard recording an album of songs he's written about our journey over the past two and a half years.

He has two songs available for download right here.

I would love everybody to go and have a listen because they are really great songs, he's very talented and everybody needs a little encouragement.


Posted by drowninginkids at 2:19 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

March 17, 2009

the wanting comes in waves

And so it is over. Tomorrow i will be moving out.

It is all very sad and heartbreaking and truly ending with love and a whimper.

Shane is a wonderful man, tender and loving. He is a wonderful father and has been a great provider for our family. This family will always be our family. We share a great love for our children. They will always know that. We have worked out custody arrangements that maximize both of our time with them. We will spend holidays as a family - birthdays and christmas and what-not.

We are both walking away hopeful that we will always be friends, that we will both be able to be happy again someday.

I am reading the new Wally Lamb book "The Hour I First Believed" and it has been incredibly tough to read during these past few difficult weeks. But the reference he makes to the chaos theory in it really struck a chord with me. Somewhere, three years ago, a butterfly flapped it's wings and sent my world into chaos.

I am hopeful that after the initial shock and sadness wears off my world will become calm again. I understand that it has been hard to follow what is happening in my life because of my many vague references and wailing tweets, but i have tried my best to respect the privacy of my family while trying to write out all the intense feelings i have been going through.

I am eternally hopeful that my kids will also, after their grief subsides, see that we put our greatest effort in. That each of us did everything we were capable of to make this marriage work. That we will always share a great love and that love is our children.

I won't write about this again.


Posted by drowninginkids at 3:14 PM Permalink | Comments (268)

March 16, 2009

it was only a change of plans

bolt

I'm sitting here thinking of all the things that are driving me crazy, lego bits in the laundry, listening to my daughter play mary had a little lamb over and over on the piano, the broken flower pot. But really what's driving me crazy is this limbo my life is in.

Not here, not there.

For months i have been waiting for something to change. Listening over and over to all the ways that i have destroyed something. A heart can only be under attack for so long before it gives up. Packs the bags and moves on.


Posted by drowninginkids at 11:16 AM Permalink | Comments (209)

March 10, 2009

prehistoric flower on the windowsill

chain

You know
love is complicated.
Factor in youth
and children
and money
and family.

It's the chains that bind you.
Or the chains that divide you.

Love is unpredictable.
Love is always great.

Love never lasts.

Love in that starry way.
That i would die for you way.

You have children.
Everything changes
you would die for them
if you are lucky

But, in the end,
none of us are lucky
because when you open yourself up
to monumental love

you are lost in it.


Posted by drowninginkids at 3:36 PM Permalink | Comments (23)

March 3, 2009

we'd never, ever, be the same

I've been thinking. (Surprising, i know.) I've been thinking about how i communicate.

The marriage counselor said i have a problem with shutting down/closing up. That is true, to an extent. Conversation is, and always has been, very difficult for me. I think that's why i have gravitated towards writing. It is much easier for me to write down what i think as opposed to tripping over words and hearts swelling in my throat.

My mind works so quickly and rapid fires between thoughts. When i let go and just talk i often end up making no sense, or worse, saying things i don't really mean. Or saying them wrong.

I suppose i am scared of confrontation. Does anybody like confrontation?

When faced with strong emotion i shut down. It's not a choice, it's more of a physical reaction. I am scared of hurting/being hurt. I feel like it is a safety mechanism. I take words very personally. I drive people crazy by remembering finite details of conversations forever. I remember every word that has hurt me.

Last year when a customer confronted me at work i argued with her for a moment then my whole body started shaking and i started crying. Right in front of her, in the middle of a busy restaurant. It was humiliating because i knew she was wrong, but i couldn't stand up for myself. My body had a physical reaction that i had no control over.

I have failed at so many relationships because of my inability to express myself verbally. Even at BlogHer conferences over the past four years i have showed up eager to see friends, yet unable to join in on conversations because of a deep fear of saying the wrong thing.

It is easy to be friends on the internet because my words and thoughts flow quite freely through my fingers. I find it easier to be me.

In real life though it is difficult to have communication over a coffee table via instant messaging.


Posted by drowninginkids at 9:37 AM Permalink | Comments (27)

January 18, 2009

interludes

album cover

We escaped up island for a couple days this weekend. It was really lovely to have time with the kids without any of the pressures of home and work.

I stayed one night and then left with tristan to head to work saturday night and drop her off at a birthday party. Tristan and i had a great time together. She is a super companion. As she gets older she is so much fun to be around. She's comfortable with quietly listening to music or chatting away about anything. We both read Twilight last week and discussed it at length on the drive. I asked her if she were bella if she would want to be a vampire or stay human and she said "i'd stay human because i don't think i could resist human blood, i can barely resist candy right now!"

I love all the ages and stages of parenting. They are all so exciting to witness. I am really looking forward to this next stage of raising children.


Posted by drowninginkids at 3:07 PM Permalink | Comments (4)

January 10, 2009

the book of love is long and boring

the window at work


I was talking with a friend the other day about happiness. We had been discussing how we were both a little melancholy within our current day to day life. She said "i just want to have a really great day." and i thought about that.

I want that too.

How many really great days can a person have in a year? I mean REALLY great. One a month, a week a year?

I had a really great day when shane and i went and saw Beck and Band of Horses. I had a great day recently being lazy and watching a movie AND having a nap and then going out for dinner on my own. I had a couple great days camping with the kids last summer.

I haven't had enough great days.

Shouldn't we have a great day more often? Are my expectations too high?

Of course, when i start thinking this way i begin to feel super guilty because there are a whole lotta ways to have a bad day in this world and no shortage of people having really bad days.


Posted by drowninginkids at 1:28 PM Permalink | Comments (192)

December 28, 2008

and to all a good night

bliss

And so it is done for another year. It was a lovely holiday in many ways. We saw many friends. On christmas eve we went to my good friends annual party. We indulged in good food, children and curious belgian beers. I left feeling so very thankful for friendship. For being understood for all my quirkiness. Happy.

The power went out over night on christmas eve and we woke up on christmas morning to a frigid house. In the dark and quiet of the morning we lit candles, brewed coffee on the barbeque and began the tradition of debauchery which is the unwrapping of gifts. The kids were all happy with their presents and very generous in their thankfulness. It was nice because it was a very low key year with only a few gifts under the tree.

Shane gave me a lovely gift. A video he had compiled of several of my friends and family talking about me. They each began with one word to describe me. The diversity of answers was amazing. Funky, reliable, calm, beautiful, complicated, shy. It's difficult to give the video justice because it was so deeply personal and moving. It was a lovely, thoughtful gift that i will always cherish. A reminder that i do have friends, that i do have something to offer the world.

The power came back on in the early afternoon and i managed to pull off the turkey dinner complete with crystal and crackers and toasts to family. I made the day everything i hoped it would be.

On boxing day morning the kids left for their in-laws and i was left alone in the house. It was strange to have the holiday so abruptly cut short. It felt lonely. It felt like last year when i dropped the kids off on boxing day. I missed them very much.


Posted by drowninginkids at 12:01 PM Permalink | Comments (12)

December 17, 2008

imago

beads

I am feeling a little overwhelmed.

The shopping, the working, the snowing. Oh yes, the snow. It started last saturday and hasn't really stopped since. Snow never lasts this long and we are set for super cold temperatures and more snow through the weekend. How am i going to finish all my shopping? And let's not forget the wrapping.

Sometimes all of this is a nice distraction from the stuff that's going on behind the scenes. The tears, the anger, the love. The counseling. Oh my, the counseling. It is such a huge stretch for me. Having to speak as a child, as an adult. Trying so hard to let forth, to summon the courage to speak. Counseling has always been very hard for me because it requires so much talking. Talking about myself. Talking about myself to a stranger. All these personal boundaries i have. All of them have to be disregarded in order for counseling to work.

And sometimes it does work. A little light of understanding goes on. The "ah-ha" moment when you realize that maybe, just maybe, you're not totally insane, that there are reasons why you are who you are.

Other times it is simply impossible for me to do an exercise. I feel like a skunky child in those moments. "I will not participate and YOU can't make me." Those times? There's no lights going on.


Posted by drowninginkids at 12:54 PM Permalink | Comments (16)

December 12, 2008

embracing joy

can't get focused

I'm hunkering down for snow and christmas and family. For the first time, in forever, there will be no extended family involved in my celebrations. Just us. I've managed to get three days off in a row, the 23rd-25th then back in on boxing day evening at which point the kids will go visit their dad's family.

I am not a huge holiday person. I love the idea of family and togetherness, it's the pulling it all together that i always feel i fail a little bit at. I have really great memories of christmas as a child. I've been wondering what made those memories so strong. I think it was the simpleness of it. How happy i was to be around family for the whole day, the yummy dinner, grandparents and, obviously, presents. I loved the gifts. As a child we only got "stuff" on birthdays and christmas. If we wanted something at other times we had to save for it ourselves.

And the baking. My mom was a baking goddess. I am not. I would like to be, i have tried to be. I just am not. And the baking? It is a huge part of my christmas memories. I know i should try to pull this together, but with eliza's allergies and baking without nuts, it just leaves me a little dull - you know?

But, despite all my shortcomings as a holiday mom i am hunkering down/psyching up to put on the best freaking christmas ever starting with a screening of National Lampoon Christmas Vacation* over popcorn and sugar plums tonight.

*My favourite movie ever. I don't think i can explain the million ways it makes me happy inside and crack up in huge belly laughs on the outside, and really? what could be better.

And this video will make me dance through the day:


Posted by drowninginkids at 12:41 PM Permalink | Comments (10)

December 5, 2008

i pulled my coat tight

life saver


I sit in my little island hideaway, perfectly secluded and alone. Alone and anonymous, yet completely naked. I lay it out there in vulnerable shards. Shards of my life, bits and pieces that don't come together to make a complete story.

Many people think they know me because of these words i write. This is only a piece of me, the parts that i choose to share. They often seem too personal, too intimate. Thrown on the screen without hesitation.

That is not it. I choose what i write about with great trepidation. Many things flow through my head before i hit publish. The first being: is this going to hurt someone i care about? I always try to be mindful of those i love. I have hesitated to write about my separation and reconciliation because the events that surround them are intensely personal and i have wanted to protect my children from potential hurt.

The problem therein is my community. This website is read by coworkers, friends, family, my children's friends parents, and on it goes. Last winter it became apparent that there were many in my community who were aware of the events that lead up to my separation and they felt entitled to cast blame and, even, lay judgement in comments right here.

This has made me realize that i can't protect my children from information. I can teach them compassion, empathy and forgiveness. And one day i will have a conversation with them about this past year and the years before them and after them. How they were loved.

I am ashamed of my actions last year. I hurt people i loved out of greed and self-indulgent behaviour that was fueled by my struggle with depression. I have seen and felt the incredible pain i caused. I have asked for forgiveness from the people that matter most and most have given me that.

Yet, there are still those people who want to punish me. I can only imagine that it is out of great fear. Fear that it could happen to them. The simple answer is yes, yes it can happen to you. And if it does, no matter which side of the trauma you land on, you will need friends. You will need people who can listen without judging, who will stand at your side, who will forgive. Who will be your lifesaver. If you are not capable of being that friend then how can you expect to find one.


Posted by drowninginkids at 1:33 PM Permalink | Comments (37)

November 27, 2008

getaway

Last night i had one table stay in the restaurant really late. They were a nice couple and i didn't want to rush them which is a difficult task in an empty room late at night. An exercise in patience. I sat in the kitchen reading Gourmet and peeking out every once in a while to fill their coffees and check in.

Tomorrow i will be heading to tofino for a weekend without computers.

I have never been to tofino, but have wanted to go for as long as i can remember. It sits in my heart as a magical place, a rare place on earth. Reservations have been made at a lovely restaurant and a little cabin on the beach will be ours. Wetsuits will be rented and body surfing will happen. I am beyond excited.

I made all these plans while sitting in the kitchen last night. Hoping that i may be the one having the lovely evening this weekend.


Posted by drowninginkids at 9:28 AM Permalink | Comments (15)

November 19, 2008

forgive

colours

All i really want is to be forgiven. To be treated as a normal human being who is deserving of respect.

My oldest daughter was having a very difficult time in middle school. Just not fitting in socially. She would come to me in tears several nights a week because she "had no friends." She may be a little awkward socially, but she is vibrant, smart, silly and loves to laugh. She would be a great friend. I know that because she is my friend.

We stayed up late on sunday night talking together. I felt helpless to offer advice that would really help her. No matter how much i would like to i can't make people like her and frankly the thought of other children not being nice to her hurts me to my core. I offered her the option of going back to her old school, the school that we pulled all the kids out of. She said yes.

On tuesday morning she jumped out of bed and happily hobbled on her casted leg into her old school and the arms of her old friends. I stopped by at recess and watched her from my hiding place in my car with a group of girls and boys giggling and laughing. A face filled with joy.

Tears ran down my cheeks. Relief and joy to see her happy again.

Also a little sad. I want to be happy again. I want to have someone's arms to run into. Someone who will forgive me and make me laugh.


Posted by drowninginkids at 12:45 PM Permalink | Comments (7)

November 16, 2008

cradled and crushed

helicopters

Last night i sat down with a friend and poured out my soul. My fears, my desires, my struggles, my life. It had all been sitting there needing to come out. I have spoken with many people over the past week about what is going on in my life. Told them bits and pieces, not wanting to share everything, scared to share everything.

I have had a lot of advice. All of it good. All of it needed. Some positive and some negative. All of it very similar.

All of it leaving me with a sinking feeling in my gut.

Last night i was given better ideas. A little bit different. I had clarity on some core problems with my life. I need to make some changes.

Internal and external.

I start working with a new life coach this week. It seems like an extravagance in many ways, yet, i am very excited to work on myself. With guidance.


Posted by drowninginkids at 9:52 AM Permalink | Comments (196)

November 5, 2008

harness your blame

canada

It feels strange to be feeling like something is lost today when so much was won yesterday.

Today i feel like the innocence i once had is completely gone. I've negotiated my way through many twists and turns in this life. But, this year, i have found a heart that was lost.

I found my heart. It is a sad and broken thing, but it is mine.

The innocence i lost, the thing i lost today? An idealistic dream that someone else could take care of my heart. Could take care of me. It is my heart and mine to take care of. I am the only one responsible for me. I can't always be doing what i feel is right for others at cost to me.

It all sounds so simple. Just like the little lessons i try and teach my kids. Nothing is simple.

The complete breakdown of a marriage is always two sided and it is a terrible thing. Good people make bad decisions. Good couples don't always make it. Don't always make it through.

Today is not a great day. The towel isn't thrown in yet, but like in a boxing match, both sides are holding it in the air, ready to let it drop.


Posted by drowninginkids at 2:48 PM Permalink | Comments (7)

October 30, 2008

skinny love

skyline

I know i frustrate you with my ups and my downs. My circles. Always coming back around.

For me, i see it more as a spiral. Each rotation is a little off the epicentre. The bottom. The bottom was the deepest darkest days. Back before my marriage exploded. Back when waking up was a near impossible exercise. When i retreated to my bed at every opportunity. Some days i barely made it out. Some days i barely got through, i would say i didn't get through them. I was a shell of a person. Ghostly and pale. Completely lost to the present.

I am not that anymore. The most important thing to me is to do everything in my power to never be in that horrible place again. I will always do these laps. This happy/sad dance. It is in me. It is at the root of me. It does not define me. But it, sometimes, blinds me.

When i write about these emotional waves it helps me, you help me, to pull myself back to centre. Back to middle. Middle isn't the best place in the world, but it is living. It is able to see the good and the bad. To feel, and accept, the high and the low and know that these are all normal feelings. That i can live with this.

Don't be alarmed by my meanderings. I am going through a very difficult stage in my life. I am focused on a positive outcome, no matter what it may be. I want this to be a learning and growing experience. I am on a mission to know myself, to let my self be known to me. To have faith that self is important.


Posted by drowninginkids at 10:38 AM Permalink | Comments (16)

October 27, 2008

Re: stacks

white

I'm having a difficult time seeing the forest for the trees.

The unsettled feeling in the air. The economy, our elections, your elections, famine, disaster, random acts of violence, poverty. It seems so simple, how to fix things. But sometimes the fixing is so much harder than the living with.

I am sorry. So sorry that a thing that was once pure and magical was destroyed by me. I am sorry that the world is being destroyed as well. I am sorry that the future my children could have had is gone now. I am sorry that we all lost our innocence, our childish thinking that everything would work out fine.


Posted by drowninginkids at 9:51 PM Permalink | Comments (215)

October 23, 2008

autumn

practice flight

I am touched by the beauty around me. It has been the most beautiful autumn i can recall. The colours are vivid, popping to the point of surreal perfection. The glow of dusk leaving me dizzy. It has been cold and sunny - my very favourite weather combination. Scarves and cardigans, thick socks and knee high boots.

I am touched and moved to tears by everyday moments. The kids skipping out of school. Boys wrestling in the evenings. The determination in my daughters eyes as she struggles to get around on crutches. Little boys in halloween costumes.

I feel emotional. Moody to the point of exhaustion.

When you break a persons heart it is very hard to mend that heart. A heart can be torn and stretched and filled, but it has its limit. Eventually it will break. Things have been hard in this house. There is anger flowing and filling in those broken spots. We work through the days to protect the children from all the sorrow, the loss of something magical. We work through the nights, talking, crying, avoiding. We wake as exhausted as we fell. A relentless circle.


Posted by drowninginkids at 1:15 PM Permalink | Comments (4)

October 6, 2008

didn't have all that much to say

tongue out

Let me tell you about my kids. They are amazing, resilient little creatures. My children fill me with pride each and every day. I wake up in the morning excited to see them, to see what new things this day will have in store.

Tristan has been amazing with her broken leg. She never complains. I feel so sorry for her; each day an exciting journey from bed to sofa and back. She keeps saying "sorry" when she complains about me hurting in her when i struggle to carry her to the bathroom. I say "don't be sorry, don't ever be sorry." It has been amazing to watch her deepening sympathy and understanding of the world around her and how her attitude and actions, and others, effect her surroundings. She is a bright star.

Toby has joined his peers in his new school with enthusiasm and charm. He is everyone's buddy. He continues to struggle with his language arts and has needed a lot of encouragement to face each spelling test and reading assignment. He is pushing through. This week he will start receiving extra support which will, hopefully, be great for him. Watching the way his apraxia continues to cause him learning and developmental delays has been heart-wrenching.

Eliza has blossomed in the new school. Reaching out to new friends and taking risks that were unheard of a year ago. She feels safe in her classroom which is not nut-free, but aware. She has never had to face this threat before and in many ways it has given her a sense of power and ownership of her allergies. She needs to keep herself safe and not rely on others to do that for her. I can see that she is proud of her bravery and that she sees the pride in me.

Parker cries each morning before kindergarten and walks out at the end of each day proclaiming "school was great today!" I hope that soon the morning anxiety will ease. He has, so far, saved his anger and frustration for home. I had visions of him whacking his classmates, but he still reserves that behaviour for his siblings. A few weeks ago he learned to ride without training wheels by, literally, pedaling away. No help. It was amazing. Now his favourite thing to do is to go to the skate park and ride around. He put his head under water for the first time this weekend. He is taking risks and feeling the reward. I am proud and a little sad to see him grow up.

My kids keep me going, make me smile, make me cry, make me proud.


Posted by drowninginkids at 9:39 AM Permalink | Comments (18)

September 28, 2008

hand over your heart

The weather has been really, really beautiful here on the westcoast. Warm, sunny days enhanced by the vibrant colours of leaves changing and the rich smells of bonfires and wet grass. I love it, just sitting and enjoying the wonder of this world.

I have been closing in on myself, a bad habit of mine. This turning inward often happens this time of year. I think it's the knowledge that the long, dark days of winter will soon be setting in. It's almost a defense mechanism, wrapping myself in a blanket, in an effort to keep my heart warm through the winter.

This is not healthy. A distance is created between me and those close to me.

Marian wrote this to me in a comment earlier this month:

Your unhappiness always surfaces shortly after you get something you want (I've been reading you for a long time!) because you realize that although you believed the change would make you happy, you discover that it hasn't.

I've been rolling this around in my brain for the past few weeks. It struck me like a wrecking ball. A simple yet profound observation about me. It really knocked my socks off.

What do i want?

I've been trying to answer that question. Answer it in an honest way, no matter how terrifying. What do i want. I want to not be unhappy. I want feel satisfied with my life. I want moments of bliss. I want to laugh really hard sometimes, i want to smile or giggle when i'm alone thinking about something.

How to make those things happen is the question. The real question.


Posted by drowninginkids at 12:06 PM Permalink | Comments (705)

September 23, 2008

ice caps melting down

IMG_7717.JPG

I just spent half an hour looking through my photos from this past year. What a year.

I really don't have the words or energy to describe all the emotions that are filling me up right now, suffice it to say it's a full bucket.


Posted by drowninginkids at 12:55 PM Permalink | Comments (189)

September 20, 2008

calling requests through heating vents

juxtaposition

This week i have been called many things:

self-indulgent
self-centered
generous
kind
rude
hateful
pretty
honey bunny (by a customer, felt like i should come out with guns blazing a la Tarantino)
quiet
sensitive
loud
crude
funny
magical

It seems odd that people have such varying thoughts about me. Ideas of who i am. And really? Who am i? I am a mother, a wife, a friend, an employee, a waitress, a thinker, a writer, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a twitterer, a facebook friend. Do i *feel* like those things? Not really. I feel like me, like jess. Same as i always have, since i was a child.

I am in my head. I am hopeful but doubting. I am words swirling but failing to come out. I am human. I have a heart that wants to destroy me. I am hurting and recovering. Over and over. I am lost and i am found.


Posted by drowninginkids at 2:36 PM Permalink | Comments (203)

September 12, 2008

thank you for moving the dead animals

boys in the hood

Sometimes i look around me at all the happy people and i hate them. I feel like a bad mother, a bad person. A failure. Like i've let everyone i care about down. I am a disappointment.

All of my kids are in school now. I have a two hour period of time every week day alone. Alone. It's been eleven years since i had that. There were times in the past year when i was alone. Somehow that was different.

It has been a very hard two weeks. I have been working a lot and on school days only see the big kids for about two hours a day. I miss them very much. This schedule is very difficult to keep up.

I need to. I need to because i am not ready to give up any of the things that gave me the independence to maintain a household on my own. I can't even give up that house. I am terrified to because i am still so unsure if all of this is going to work out.

As it turns out forgiveness is a very difficult thing. And hurt and pain never really go away. And what you need may not be available.

That other people may never forgive you. Sides are drawn in the sand. Hatred runs as deep as love.


Posted by drowninginkids at 10:11 AM Permalink | Comments (32)

September 7, 2008

i've taken all i have to take

lost shoe

I was thinking this morning about love and marriage/relationships. When i was young i was sure i would never find love. I didn't have an understanding of what love could be. I hadn't had any experience with unconditional love. My first real boyfriend i had for three years, then i met shane.

Life with shane has been anything, but easy. When we were first together our love was so intense that it was physically painful for me. When he was away from me i felt like half a person. Ours was an intense courtship.

Intense love wasn't easy. I was young and emotionally a baby. I had struggled with anxiety and depression for years already. Our early years were filled with doubt for me. I couldn't believe that he loved me just for me. I felt like i had to be better. A better lover, a better girlfriend, prettier, smarter, funnier.

As time went on we eased into a calmer, easy love. After university we both had good jobs. We had a great apartment. We had a good life. I was still unsure. I couldn't enjoy the moments as they came. I worried about our future. How i could keep him. I knew he was special.

Then the years flew by in a whirlwind of babies. Suddenly, i was lost in a life that i didn't really want. We were fiercely competitive with each other. Co-dependent. Unhealthy. Instead of working on the problem. Working on the love. I was terrified by it. Terrified of a future full of love that had gone bad. I created an escape plan that was cruel. I betrayed the man who had stood by me through everything. I don't know why i did the things i did. I was reeling in a fog of depression, suicidal thoughts, alcohol, insomnia and denial. I thought the better solution was to run away from everything. I tried to do that by killing myself. When that didn't work i lied that everything was okay and continued on a horrible and destructive path till i found myself out of the marriage.

And i spent a year thinking i could turn my back on that love. I could push it out of my heart. I couldn't.

People keep congratulating us like we are newlyweds. It's not like that. It is hard. We are working on healing. Finding new ways to be together and communicate that are healthy. Expressing our needs. Being independent. Being together. We are defying the odds. Backing out of the statistics.

Love is never black and white. It is a million shades of grey.


Posted by drowninginkids at 3:08 PM Permalink | Comments (9)

September 6, 2008

swing your heartache

the day

Fall is fair time here on the island. We had a nice day, depending on what you consider nice. For us it meant spending way too much money for an end result of grumpy kids and one missing pre-teen. Hopefully, she'll turn up soon.


Posted by drowninginkids at 5:54 PM Permalink | Comments (201)

September 5, 2008

one and all

IMG_1400.JPG

It's been a bit of a rough week. Adjusting to working nights, early school mornings and a loss of any alone time has been stress-inducing.

Shane and i rarely see each other as he leaves before i get up and i am gone to work when he arrives home. It is stress-inducing. Adding that i am still in the midst of "busy" season and working long hours and extra shifts.

I am feeling like a stranger in my own town because of the changes in schools. It reminds me of when we first moved up here and i was so lonely. I am reminded again of the lack of friends i have, yet my inability, or desire, to do anything about it.

My heart is aching a bit.

Shane hates my work hours. He wouldn't ask, but i know he doesn't want me to work. I want to work. I like having money. I like buying the groceries and clothes for the kids with my own money. I like being able to think about buying an iphone without having to ask for permission. Not working was one of the top five contributing factors to my depression. Maybe not "working" so much as independence, freedom and getting out of the house.

I see the kids, except parker, for about an hour a day on my workdays and then on my days off i am so wiped out that all i can manage is to be their taxi service and food delivery system. I know it is just the first week of school and there is way too many things going on and we all will adjust - it's just, well, stressful.


Posted by drowninginkids at 1:12 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

August 28, 2008

wheeling through an endless fog

Band of Horses

I had such a wonderful night. The photo is crap, but i had shane's point and shoot and i'm not a point and shoot girl. Band of Horses was great. I had tears in my eyes the whole way through. It was beautiful to hear the words live. They were actually better when we saw them a couple years ago in a small club, they seemed a little lost in the larger venue.

We went out for dinner first and shane took this picture of me to make fun of my "girl crush" on the singer.

Crush face


Beck was amazing. So polished and energetic. And teeny. We escaped out a side door right as the show ended and Beck ran right in front of us onto his tour bus. He was about four foot nothing and one hundred pounds wet. But, an amazing artist. Totally worth the ringing in my ears today.

When i said yesterday that i couldn't promise shane a future, i didn't mean that i didn't want to make that promise. I have promised him that i will be his, always. What i meant was that i can't see a future that doesn't exist yet. We are working to that future. We still have two houses to combine into one, we still have lots of healing and talking to do, we still have to get new rings. But, i can look in his eyes and thank god that i have been forgiven.


Posted by drowninginkids at 2:09 PM Permalink | Comments (9)

August 27, 2008

marriage 2.0

lovely buiding, lovely clouds

People have asked me how the kids are doing. They are doing amazingly well. Amazingly well considering the complete upheaval their lives have taken this year. They have their mommy and daddy back under one roof. What is happening under that roof is stressful. There are painters, carpet layers, cleaners, landscapers; all making their house into a different house. All of their worldly belongings have been hauled off to a storage locker in the name of "staging" this house.

The realtor comes this afternoon to put the house on the market. If we are lucky it will sell fast. The house we bought didn't pass the building inspection and so we had to let it go. We were all so sad about that. We pictured ourselves in that house, had picked out bedrooms and planned where furniture would go. We saw a vision of a happy future there. It was just another harsh reality for them that, sometimes, no matter how hard you wish for it, the future is uncertain.

They just want some certainty. We all do.

Shane wants a promise that i will always be here, i will always walk hand in hand beside him. I want that too. But, one can't predict all the twists and turns life may take.

Tonight i am going to see my very favourite band in the world. Band of Horses have been the soundtrack that plays in my head for the past year. When i was struggling to regain mental clarity, to give up psychiatric medications, to not be sad all the time - Band of Horses was the music i played over and over in my head as i fought to place one foot in front of the other. Plus, if i was allowed to have a "list" the singer would take spots one through five.


Posted by drowninginkids at 9:32 AM Permalink | Comments (14)