Why would someone be lucky to have you in their life? (Prompt courtesy: https://thecoffeemonsterzco.com/en-ca/blogs/midnight-blogging/journaling-prompts)

The only “someones” I’m going to discuss are the ones in my life.

Hope this doesn’t come across as tooting my own horn, which is probably sin number 4 on my Dad’s list of cardinal sins.

My kids are lucky to have me in their life because hopefully I’ve taught them to be strong when the chips are down (as in when I left the marriage to the three older ones’ dad).

Of course to my girls, “you don’t need a man for anything” was an important lesson I hope I’ve instilled in them. And to all four of them, don’t be afraid to go after what you want, or to work hard to get what you need.

Also, don’t be afraid to be different. Little five year old Sid was telling me yesterday that a kid in his Kindergarten class made fun of him for bringing dried seaweed as a snack. The older kids and I reassured him that he can bring whatever darn snack he wants and to not pay attention to other’s opinions.

I didn’t grow up trying to be difficult or trying to be different, I was walking my own path and I believe everyone should do the same.

Why is my partner lucky to have me? Well, that one is a bit more complex. Relationships with a life partner can be so complicated. Although the relationship I’m in now, (and will be for the rest of my life), is much healthier than my previous marriage, in some ways I feel like my first husband and I were closer.

Maybe it’s because we got together when I was just twenty-one and really just a kid, it felt like we sort of grew up together and in some ways shared more intimate life experiences.

That being said, I’ve learned over time, (and had to learn this a couple of times), that a solid steady relationship is where you want to be. Someone who lets you be you. There’s no enmeshment. I am me and he is he.