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Thank you for the love and support last week. It ended up better than I expected and I found myself a little surprised at the end of it all.  Let me explain...

I had a breakdown on Friday afternoon after school.  I was packing my stuff to head to Boyfriend's for the weekend and the reality of the wedding hit me.  I cried.  I called Tracey and cried.  She and I discussed divorce and how we continue to move forward.  She gave me good advice and got me to laugh.  I headed out of town. On the way, I was texting with his sweet mom while stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.  Once I was moving, I called her.  We had a lovely conversation about just about everything--family, love, life. By the time I arrived at Boyfriend's apartment (over an hour and a half later), I was happy and ready to be with him for the weekend.

It was a great weekend.  We played with Bandit, the new puppy (OMG, y'all--seriously the best puppy ever.  More on that another time).  We had a marathon day of watching Psych on Netflix and house training the puppy.  We didn't do much else.  I turned my phone off and focused on our little getaway on his side of town.  We snuggled a lot and talked about our life.  It was perfection.

My girls were dropped off at Boyfriend's apartment by A's mom at noon the next day.  We played with the puppy and came back home to be a family.  It was great. With the exception of tonight and during the day tomorrow, I have my girls until Wed morning which makes me happier than anything.

As I expected, it didn't take long for me to see pictures of A and K's wedding online.  I wasn't seeking them out, but there they were.  Naturally, I clicked on the link. I waited for the hurt.  I anticipated the lump in my throat I would feel seeing the pictures. 

Except, it never came.  I looked at A.  He looks happy.  He was staring at her and smiling.  She looked beautiful.  I didn't feel pain as I imagined.  I smiled. 

It was as if I saw a picture of an old friend and I felt happy for him. 

Huh.  That was not the reaction I figured was coming.  It was peace.  Truth is, I like K.  She's kind and sweet to my kids.  She seems to really love them.  Truth is, A wasn't a good husband to me in a lot of ways.  He hadn't looked at me in that way in a very long time.  Truth is, I wasn't a good wife to A in a lot of ways.  I didn't get butterflies or smile at him that way either. 

Truth is--we're both happier now not married to each other. 

If you had told me two years ago I would feel happy for my ex-husband's new marriage, I would have thought you crazy.  Even a year ago.  OK, maybe even last month when he told me he was getting married.  However, I do want him happy.  His happiness means my children's happiness.  That matters more than anything.  So, here I am a few days later.  He's married.  I'm not hurting.  I'm not upset, jealous, or wishing things were different. 

I'm right where I need to be at this point in my life.  This reaction and understanding of my current life? Yeah, I'm considering that some serious personal growth on my part. 

Meet the new man in my life

This is Bandit. He's a mutt that Boyfriend  adopted a week ago. 8 weeks old and I'm completely in LOVE

Just days after I wrote about things before just great in the moment, I got an email right before my 8th period class.  I knew it was coming soon.  I wasn't surprised by it, but it shook me.  Andrew is getting married.  Next weekend in fact.  He and his girlfriend have been together since the Spring and they got a house with my girls and her sons this summer.  She's a kind woman I've met once who seems kind to my children.

I don't love A anymore.  I don't hate him either.  Most days, I no longer think of him beyond if there is something going on with our children.  However, it wasn't easy at first to think of the man I loved for over 16 years of my life becoming someone else's husband.  The man I thought I would grow old with didn't love me.  It's not that he couldn't love--he couldn't love ME.

I haven't written about this because frankly, it's not my story to write about.  Even now, I am trying to keep my opinions (and sure I have more than a few) to myself.

I've adjusted to the news and I'm ok.  Not hurting or upset.  I don't particularly like sharing my children in the manner I do.  I don't like that another woman does mother/daughter type activities with my babies or that they now have another mother figure in their life.  Sweet Maggie informed me that she does not want to call her any kind of Mom type name.  She loves her very much but says that I'm Mama.  I told her very honestly that I appreciate it and I would get my feelings hurt if she did.  I also said I believed her dad would not like it if they ever called Boyfriend any type of dad name.

The most important thing in all this is that my children are happy.  They love their life with me in our home.  They love their life with their dad.  A and I worked very hard to make their lives happy and not stressed from the divorce. 

So, next weekend, A will marry K.  My children will stand by happily and will never know anything but the happiness of it all.  I will escape to the other side of the DFW metroplex for the weekend and stay in Boyfriend's bachelor pad.

Life will continue.  As it always does.