Just a Sentence

We spent time with good friends on Friday night. Eric and I have been blessed with many friends to enjoy time with. This couple had previously experienced similar struggles that our family has faced lately and it felt good to listen to words of wisdom from friends that are familiar with the issue. I left with several golden nuggets but my favorite was this: One day this will be summed up in just one sentence.

I thought about it, and it’s true! My divorce was painful and took a year to get through, but if you asked me now, I sum it up to, “I was married once before.” My five years of dependence of welfare when the children’s clothes were hand-me-downs from other families, and food was often from the food bank is now, “I was on welfare for a while.” The extended sentence is, “I was on welfare while I attended nursing school.”

Eric and I had an insane first year of marriage in which he had to adjust to three pre-teens and I had to start sharing the family helm. When asked about our first year now, I would say, “Yep…that was a tough one!” Even more recently, my job loss in December was brutal. Receiving state approval to teach-out our students was victorious. I had two months on an emotional roller coaster that felt like it would never end. We held graduation today for the first 77 graduates of our teach out. My sentence? “Look at what we did!”

So, this helped put everything in perspective. Our family has had a tough time lately and we are still not out of the woods. The benefits of the five of us drawing together has been worth every tear that spilled. At some point, however, this will become just another sentence in our history. When you have sentences, you eventually have a story. A story needs chaos, emotion and eventually, victory. What would life be without some of those sentences?

Nothing worth telling.