Around the Corner

I can't believe I'm quoting Gwen Stefani on my blog. It's not that I have anything against her. I remember seeing No Doubt play twice back in the late 90s. I just never thought I'd be quoting her. But here I go:

"It's weird how things happen and you just don't see things
that are right around the corner after such devastation."

I was reading an article on People where Gwen was talking about how lucky she felt to have fallen in love again. I love love and feel lucky that my boyfriend and I crossed paths when we did, so the romantic in me was really enjoying the article. But that quote was really powerful to me. After infertility. After divorce. While still not yet having found my place in my new career.

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I talked to my mom yesterday. She is always pushing back on me. I never seem to be doing the right thing according to her. She called me yesterday and, even though I was in the middle of quilting for the first time in weeks, I answered my phone to visit with her for a bit. She asked what I was doing, I told her, and she immediately said with a weird judgmental tone, "Do you ever do anything else besides quilting?"

What's wrong with quilting?

What's wrong with me? 

And, to be quite honest, why aren't you worried about my sisters?
They both currently have significant issues that are affecting them.

However, my sisters are married, have kids, own their houses, and have jobs. I am divorced, without kids, a renter, and unemployed. Huh. It turns out going against the norm really bothers some people. (Oh well. Their problem, not mine.)

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I definitely don't feel like I need a partner to be happy. But I do have a partner and he does make me happy, so I am incredibly thankful for that. Despite living in similar places across the same three states throughout both of our lives, our paths never crossed (that we know of) until we were in our late 30s. It was the perfect time for the two of us to meet for so many reasons. Any earlier would not have been the right time. But now is perfect.

I didn't know I was going to meet him. Meeting someone was the last thing on my mind. I was busy and I was content. I had just moved to a new state and had a new life to create. I had worked hard to be where I was and I was at peace on my own.

I had no idea what was just around the corner... :)

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In a way, it makes me feel a tiny bit better about the future. In a time when our country is experiencing so much open hate and violence, it's helpful for me to remember that I do not yet know the good that is coming.

Thank you for the reminder, Gwen.