I Am Who I Am

Ever wonder why your life is the way it is?  I know I sure have.  I wonder what would it be like if I had made different choices.  What if I hadn’t been given up for adoption.  What if I had married my husband the first time around, or if I had stayed married to my first husband.  Wow, my life would be so different.

Life is a series of happenings.  When my parents made the choice to adopt me, they said no to one other baby before me.  I could have had other parents altogether.  Instead, my parents decided that I was their baby girl.  They came to pick me up from the hospital when I was just 5 days old and I have been their daughter from that day forward. I had a happy childhood with summer holidays to Ireland, mostly, but also to California, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin.  I had trips to Florida and St. Louis and Chicago. I had piano lessons and tennis lessons.  Most importantly, I had a family that loved me.  They taught me to be strong in the face of adversity and to never give up.

I dated my husband back in high school.  We dated for a very long time.  Boy, was he a cutie.  Jet black hair, hazel eyes and the longest eyelashes you can imagine.  We dated all the way through high school and half way through college.  Then I dumped him.  Yes, I broke his heart.  He never really got over the fact that I did that, but somehow, after some time had passed, we rekindled our friendship and just remained friends for many years. I married someone else.

When I had my first child, she was perfect.  I couldn’t wait till she got here and she was in no hurry to make her grand appearance.  She was nearly 3 weeks late.  My life had changed forever.  I was in awe of her perfect little body, her fingers, toes and sweet chubby cheeks.  Not only did my body change, she changed my whole world, forever.  She was followed by two more beautiful girls.  What a perfect family, until the divorce.

Getting divorced was a huge life change for me, as well as my girls.  We were starting over by moving back to my hometown and leaving the place where I had called home for 13.5 years.  We left both good and bad memories behind.  I had to create a new home for us, a new place of belonging without their dad.  That was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but alas, I did what I thought was best under the circumstances.

Once things were settled down, I asked my high school sweetheart a very important question.  We had stayed in touch.  He had watched the girls grow up.  We were in the parking lot at Walmart, just the two of us.  We had met for lunch as usual, but unlike other times, I hadn’t brought the girls with me.  I told him that he had to promise first, not to laugh at me.  I asked him my question.  I asked, “Would you ever, possibly, ever remotely, consider, possibly, dating me again?” He laughed.  I couldn’t believe that he laughed, but he did.  He said yes, but the reason he laughed was because he couldn’t believe I had to ask him that.  Well, of course I did.

Shockingly enough, after knowing this man for most of my life, I married him.  We dated this time for only a few months.  He is my soulmate.  The second time around marriage works.  We even added a bouncing baby boy to our crew a year after our marriage.  I married the one who sticks with me through thick and thin and we’ve seen it all in the last 10 years.  I can’t tell you what I would do without my husband in my life.  I don’t even want to think about it.

This is my story. It is how I came to be where I am today.  It’s how I grew up to be the one I am now.  I am a lucky woman and even though my life hasn’t always gone as I planned it, I wouldn’t change a thing.

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This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday  post.  We do this every week and you could join us too!  The sentence to finish this week, was “I grew up to be the one I am now…” hosted by Kristi and the sentence thinker-upper, Upasna Sethi of Life Through my Bioscope.  Visit and have fun checking out what we do each week and join in the fun!