If I knew then...

After learning the truth, the real truth and not the truth behind the rose colored glasses, isn't the first question always, 'knowing what I know now, would I do it all over again?' I'm not sure what most people would do, but I know me and I know I would do it all over again.  Yes, I am better off now; I'm sad oh so sad knowing life once again has passed me by.  Daily I pray to be on God's path and for him to close those doors that are no longer meant to be open.  This door was closing not too long after it had been open.  I was lucky enough for it to stay open for as long as it was just so I could learn so much more about me and what I could handle.

As I look to leave the past behind me and begin a new, I can only hope the challenges I have faced in the past allow me to escape those same challenges in the future.  Almost every day I can be the grown up, the mature adult who smiles and walks with her head held high; it's times like this when I feel I can't just sit back and watch it all crumble away.  I always thought I could help and make through, but have realized I can't help what hasn't completely broken and sadly when it does break, I won't be here to help.  

Falling in love was the easy part, letting go to watch it fall apart is hard.

with heat, rain causes a flourish

I've noticed this summer, so far, is exactly what I have been craving!  Long heat filled, sunny days with hardly any rain and just enough of a breeze to gently move my daughter's hair.  Although my grass is brown and I add water in the pool each night, I have been living in a hazy bliss of happiness.  Until about a week ago I remembered the flowers and the vegetables!  The center garden was beginning to droop and the edges on the bee bombs were curling and turning black.  Thankfully I seemed to have remembered in enough time to prevent anything from dying off due to lack of rain.  I have been watering diligently in the evenings as I listen to the crickets and frogs not too far off, waiting for me to finish so they too can cool off.  And, as luck would have it, the flowers look wonderful and both the tomatoes and pumpkins are thriving!
I've realized, just like the flowers need both the rain and heat, I need some rain to counter my own heat.  For far too long I have created my life to suit my needs, I haven't wilted when life became too hot.  Instead I laced up my shoes and ran.  And though thought provoking, this realization has come at an opportune time in my life.  I have stood up for what I want and what I believe I can achieve in life only to realize I was the only one who was sure in the relationship of heat and rain.  Some may say I was unfair, some may say more time should be given.
Historically, I spent six years! SIX (oh my was my head not in the game back then) long years ignoring my needs and wants to appease someone else, all the while waiting  for the life I thought we wanted to begin.  Once I realized this was a fantasy that was never coming true I had to find the courage to move on.
Then came the most difficult part in my adult life thus far, I was free to figure me out.  This proved to be four long and trying, tear-filled (both stressful and happy) accomplished years.  Happily I can say I am well on my way to knowing what I want out of life.  The path I have chosen seems to be mostly on with His path; sometimes I stray but I do seem to always find my way back.  Today, I'm back on the path; but not without leaving a piece of me with someone who doesn't have the strength just yet to follow what's already inside.

practically imperfect in every way

After a long week of dressing up, putting on the face, the hair, the make up, all my body and mind want to do is put on the comfy clothes, wash off the paint and put on the glasses.  But I don't until I know everyone is gone, the world is behind closed doors and it's just me. To have me, to myself where I can be as imperfect as I want  and no left to judge.  Deep down, I know I shouldn't care what other people think. I have built myself from nothing into something, I have my flaws and I cherish each one as a wounded soldier would cherish battle scars. At the end of the day it isn't enough for me to accept me.  I crave acceptance in a world that is our living Hell.  In a world where child abuse is rampant, where fathers and mothers leave their children behind for their own selfishness, where a woman returns home each night with her child to the man who beat her before they both left for work.  How is it that I crave acceptance knowing I am better than all this?
Without the barriers I set up, without the pain I feel each day over the decisions I make to live the life I have set up, who would I be?  Why is it that I already know the answer but am unwilling to share that with anyone?  I'm told I am naive and trusting, how did I get to be that way?
I won't blame parenting because I think I had two of the most amazing parents in the world. I blame me, I blame my insecurities.  I am imperfect in my eyes so I will continue to smile that smile I get complimented on.  I will run the miles to run away from myself and to get to the nowhere I think is happiness that I am unable achieve.  I will look at myself in the mirror and hate what I see, but I will dress the part that fits for the day I have been given and I will smile.
For fear that a knock may come at the door, to the untrained eye, my kitchen is perfectly clean but the dishes are unwashed in the dishwasher.  My bathroom is germ free, until you see the hair in the drain.  My bedroom is spotless, then you look to the left and see the residue of hairspray I have yet to wash off.  I live my life a step away from perfection. I fear it.  I live it.  It is me, a step away from perfc.

phew

It's all done! It's just fine, no worries, no fears, just me. Just being me, and who I am. It's truthful, it's painless, it's so much easier and so much less exhausting than pretending to be someone I'm not. I just wish the world could see me for me and not who I portray myself to be. I'll admit, not very many people get to see me, more weighed down on the scale are the girls than the guys. It is SO easy to play pretend with the men, sorry if this is offensive, but you're so easy to fool, such an easy read. We women see what you want, how you expect us to be and we play the part. You are meaningless, simple-minded beings that think first with the secondary. Women, they know what they want from the moment introductions are made. Regardless of how fake or real we attempt to be, women know deep down whether or not a friend will come of the handshake. I have very few close friends I have shaken hands with, I have hugged and felt their pain, I have cried because I felt the same happiness/sadness she has felt. For the rest, it is what it is, surface superficial fake-ness we smile at one another and hope for some sort of acceptance. If not, you are brushed off and cast in the pool of extras.
The truth will set me free! And it has tonight, in so many ways. I was truthful with a friend I have been dying to be honest with. I understand I may not be viewed as a very good friend right now, but I knew this from the moment of decision making time. Tonight, I fall asleep with a clean slate and a sad resigned attitude that at least it is the truth. It may not be completely understood, but at least the lines are drawn, the hesitation was explained. Another gasp of relief happened tonight without expectations, without hope or without fear. It is the burden of proof I've known, but found reasons to not believe. But again, everything happens for a reason and I will not put myself there. I knew that going into this, but found myself doubting. It's amazing what the proof can do to me!

an inner link

I haven't posted since October 23, 2010. And that was the first post listed for me to re-read when i opened an otherwise stagnant blog. I had thoughts to post something completely different, but feelings and emotions came over me so quickly and so hard it seemed impossible to tamper them down with anything other than words.
I have found this blog is more about my past than it is my present. It's my go to when I have no where else to turn. No response is ever needed, I just need to get out what eats me up inside. I hope someday to start something a bit more uplifting, but tonight I realized just how true the title of this blog really is.
I am not sure if it is the past connection of time, or what I have endured; but the pain doesn't ever seem to lessen when I feel its hit. The hits come so infrequently now, when it does happen it seems to root me in it longer, and deeper. I can't fix what is broken. I am not sure if that is exactly why I can't let it go, or if it is just the fact that a connection has been made. Forever. A connection that was broke because one side of the link can't figure out how to repair itself. That link doesn't realize that within itself comes the power and energy to fix what it already knows how. Instead it looks everywhere but inside for the answers.
I am not entitled to anything other than the breath I breathe; yet I push to be accepted into a world I want nothing to do with. I used to think I was a part of the inside; I know now that never was. The hurt isn't any less when I know the truth, it just makes it easier to understand. I used to hate that I hurt; now I just embrace it when it comes and accept those things that I cannot change. My link to forever, my link to something bigger, I cannot accept that it cannot be changed. My understanding doesn't fix a mind that knows only good. My acceptance doesn't quell the pain. I am stronger for those that haven't learned to be able to brush off and accept the hurt and the pain. I smile on the outside, while the inside makes the rain.

it's with the Big Guy Now

For so long, I have been fighting a battle, mostly internal that turned outward and then it became messy. I feel as though this battle has been raging for so long, but in comparison it really hasn't been all that long. When something has the ability to affect me I tend to internalize and focus only on that one issue and walk blindly through my days using an auto-me. I smile, I laugh, I work, I'm a mom, I'm a friend but I've given myself up to something bigger than me. Until today, this afternoon actually I didn't give that a second thought. It was as though that is exactly what I expected of myself and looking back this time spent waging this battle has been a shiny blur. Something looked at through watery eyes and a heavy heart.
Words tonight, they are difficult to form a complete logical sentence and thought pattern, it's as though my fingers are not connected to my brain and my brain is not connected to my heart. Somewhere along the way, I have created a disconnect between reality and the life I am living.
For so long now, I have put myself on hold while I blithely watch the world pass me by. And pass me by it is still doing. I feel like I am on a Ferris wheel but stuck at the top, watching everything happen from afar. The feeling like, it doesn't necessarily matter if I have a say or not, regardless, LIFE GOES ON. That is such a tough concept to know that regardless of what I do, what I think, feel, act or say, LIFE GOES ON. But does it really go on as though it would have without this battle? I don't like to think so, I think if I took part in life as I should have, my impact would have made a difference, my impact would have affected my life in just the same way that me stand idly on the sidelines has affected my life.
Woah, word jumble! What I mean is, I do matter, I may be one voice, one body, one soul but I was made me for a reason. I was set out to grow throughout this lifetime and live with challenges and battles set in my path. If life were easy, afterlife would be hard. I know I don't want to spend my afterlife in a world of difficult. I want to earn my keep now, here on Earth and prove I am strong enough to make it where I want to be.
This battle I continue to mention, I have done my waging of war, I have donned my armor and stood up for what I believe in. Now, it is up to God to decide if I have behaved properly and stood for what I believe so strongly in.

my little girl

In re-reading some of my latest posts, I have noticed that they are very one sided. Nothing to do with anyone other than myself, my feelings and my thoughts. I am fine with the 'my thoughts' part of the blogs, I am the only one who is writing them, but I am not okay with the 'myself' part. Somewhere in the past few months I have lost the thoughts of my daughter inside my mind and haven't shared them as I so freely share my own trials and tribulations.
My little girl. Emma Marie, or Emma Lou, or lately, Lou. She has the most grandiose ideas and give her and inch she'll make a marathon out of it and not even blink, she'll just look at me with her head tilted sideways and the curls bobbing and wink. At 29, I learned along with Emma, who is 5 and 1/2 as I write this, how to wink. Mine is no where near as nice as her winking, but still we can both do it (just hers better than mine). But I digress on a separate topic all together.
About 3 weeks ago, I had finally decided it was about time for my little girl to sleep through the night, in her own bed, and not wake me just because she rolled over and woke up a little bit. A grand plan had emerged in my mind through the points system. If Emma was able to sleep through the night for 4 out of 7 nights in one week, beginning on Sunday we would have an Emma day. Well...then I decided we would have a bunch of ideas to pick from and I suggested Albany Art Room as her 'prize'.
This is how the rest of the story went:
She was so excited jumping up and down, me thinking the whole time...nice she is this excited about Tye-dying a shirt for less than $8 bucks. When all of a sudden she does an air pump with her fist and says, "I can't wait to go back and paint a puppy for the puppy I made the last time."
"WOAH, what??? Oh no, no, no. That isn't what i said, I didn't say Pottery Place, I said Albany Art Room where you can do Tye-dye."
I then get the head turning sideways, the curls bobbing and the little wink, "but mommy you said I can have an Emma day."
"Yes, Yes I did. Okay lets try this then, 5 days of sleeping through the night?"
"Oh no, you said 4. That's the deal."

So, I was talked out of Albany Art Room and somehow convinced that all along I meant Pottery Place. I wouldn't want the first ceramic puppy that cost me $27 to be all by itself right?? I do, really do want to spend another $27 so these ceramic puppies can be friends, fall in love, and get married. Then we will have to go back and make ceramic puppies!
To close, yes, Emma did sleep 4 nights in a row, but just to be grandiose, she added another night to it making it a total of 5!!!! So, i am sleeping like a champ and at the low price of $27.

the 'us' defination

I sit here typing listening to pandora..after a night of potential plans fall apart and we end up together, i listen to Kenny Chesney, anything but mine. And how fitting is that? I am anything but yours, but i still feel so connected. for the rest of my life, i am anything but yours..anything but not yours.
it is not a sadness that washes over me, but a resigned realization that for good, for bad, for ugly, for nice, you and i are ever twined through the child, we, together, brought into this world. come hell or high water, come heat, come snow, our child is exactly that..ours. For the rest of my life, i have you in my life and you have me in yours. Somedays, some weeks, some months it will be awful. then some days, some weeks, some months it will be good. But what greatness we had has passed.
You have shown me the bad is not worth the good.It wasn't what we were, it was what we were not. That is the hardest part for me to grasp. it wasn't that i was happy, it was that i was happy enough. I don't settle, ever. No matter how hard i try it never seems good enough for me.
My parents raised me right, they taught me to push my hardest and do my best. Growing up i thought this was just meant for schooling, but schooling turned into college and going to college I learned it is very different in comparision to everything i have ever learned. Then all of a sudden adulthood is here and damn where has the time flown?
Then i begin to realize, no matter how hard i am trying i know it isn't good enough for me, so i know it wouldn't be good enough for my parents who raised me with intentions of greatness. Then all of a sudden, it is utter dispair...and such sadness...and once again, such disappointment. All of a sudden, its joy and happiness only to be followed once again by dispair and disappointment, but this time that is all my own doing and i find myself trapped and unable to breathe. Everything gets too close for comfort and all i want to do is shout and stretch but i can't do either one. I can only breathe those short, shallow breaths that mean the end is near, but i keep pushing the end until i can't take another breathe.
Then, i stop. And when i finally stop, i cry. Because the end is here and although i knew it was going to happen, i still was not prepared. And i cry.
And tonight, i cry. and it hurts, so much. but i cry because it feels better than holding it inside. but then i breathe again and find it doesn't hurt as much as i thought it would. it feels as though i can go, i can push that extra bit and find me, buried underneath all the happy, the sad, the hard, the up, the down, the unhappy, the little bit of happy..there i am. But a glimmer, but i'm there. Fighting strong for what i believe and for what has been instilled in me, the greatness that I know I can be.

If it keeps working

Sunday mornings at 9:30 am you will find me and Emma sitting at St. Henry's in Averill Park, together for about 10 minutes. Once Father calls the young children up to him to they all slowly make their way up to him. Not my Emma. She leaps out of my arms and runs up to see him every single Sunday!
Today my darling little irish daughter, who is the first person up to Father for a good 45 seconds, is proudly displayed her St. Patrick's Day beads from the parade yesterday. Father made a point to admire them and she preens! At 4 1/2 she can preen like a teenager. He then tells Emma and the other children, because she is the first one up to see him, would she like to carry the book and lead all the children to their teacher? Of course she does! It is the ENTIRE reason she wants to go to church! I get her little smile as she passes me by with her hands held high holding the book over her head.