This is me...Pt. IV

The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”
-William James


So, another work week has flown by, January coming to an end and some pretty intense weather for this California girl.  Although I am not crazy about too long of a Winter, I do enjoy a cold, rainy day, as long as I can sit in front of the fire and stay indoors.  I love "nesting" and making a big pot of healthy soup on a cold wintry day.


Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, this is a holiday that has held a lot of emotion for me in the past.  I was married on Valentine's Day, 1987.  Seems like an eternity since that day I said "I do".  We got married in Lake Tahoe, on a snowy evening at a little chapel, called Love's Lake Tahoe Chapel, by Reverend Love.
I'm serious, that was his name!


It's funny looking back now on my wedding details.  I was so young and clueless, I really didn't know what I wanted, so I let my mom pretty much plan the whole thing.  Nothing about that wedding, other than the family who attended, would be something I would choose today.  First, even though I'm a romantic at heart, I probably wouldn't get married on Valentine's Day, just for the fact that it's in Winter.  I had fake flowers, my mom thought it would be easier since we were travelling.  I would never choose fake flowers today.  Flowers are one of my passions.  Interesting, isn't it?  I was so young, so naive, I had so much to learn.  I was in love, and that's all I cared about. 


My ex-husband lost our wedding pictures on that trip.  We were given the film from the pictures the photographer took during the ceremony, to have developed when we returned home.  He kept them in his pocket while he had a snowball fight w/ my uncles.  We never got the pictures developed.  Kind of weird, huh?  I had a video that was taken of the ceremony, so there was some record of the day, but no pictures to frame or put in a wedding album.  Was it an omen?  Ha ha, who knows, I can laugh about it now, I wasn't so thrilled at the time!


Let's fast forward to the here and now.  My marriage is just a faded memory these days, but the real treasure that came from it are my two beautiful daughters.


I am so proud of these girls.  They were 7 & 11 when we seperated, still pretty young, but old enough to know what was going on.  That first summer shortly after their dad moved out was a mixture of sadness and fun.  I was determined to make the best of our situation, so I made sure we went on day trips and spent our summer swimming, visiting with family and generally having a great time.  My girls saw a lot of tears from their mom those first few weeks, they even wanted to sleep with me again, even though it had been a long time since either of them had.  We faced some challenges with our house, which at the time was still very much in the middle of a major rennovation.  It was a total fixer-upper when we bought it in 1996, and 7 years later, among other things, there was still a bathroom that was untouched and unusable, and no landscaping to speak of.  I was overwhelmed with the idea of what I should do with it.  Should I move and buy a little condo, with little maintenance?  I hated the thought of never seeing the rennovation all the way through, but at the same time, I had no money, and no partner to help me.  My ex walked away from the house with little more than his clothes and music equipment.  He never looked back.  There was so much unfinished work, I couldn't see the light at the end of a daunting tunnell. 


We had rats that first summer.  Yes, rats.   In the house. 
I woke up one Saturday morning, getting ready to hit the gym while the girls were still sleeping, and on the kitchen counter were rat droppings next to a bowl of fruit.  I can't even tell you how freaked out I was.  I called my parents, I called my ex's parents.  By 7:30am, they were all at my house figuring out how we would attack.  That first night, we stayed at my mom and dad's house.  For the next two weeks, the girls and I slept together with shoes and magazines by the bed, so we could bang them on the walls when we heard the little critters creeping inside the walls.  We could hear them eating the peanut butter off the traps at night, but we never caught a rat!  We finally got a couple in the garage, and became the owners of a sweet little kitten named Roxy Girl.  Roxy is great hunter, she is truly a part of this "all-girl" family. These days she spends more time sleeping, than hunting, but she occasionally brings me a capture.


All I can say is, what doesn't kill you, will surely make you stronger.  I think I'll go now, the memory of the rats has me a little creeped out! 


Until next time,
Happy Thoughts,
Lisa

Watch this, it is so inspiring to me, it makes me happy, hope it does the same for you!