Here comes Christmas. The third Christmas with my family blown apart.

It never gets easier; you just learn to cope with it healthier.

I’ll be alone on Christmas Day, but I’ll be in Paris, so I’m good.

I received an early Christmas gift this year. One I wasn’t expecting nor asked for. I didn’t even know I needed this gift.

Sidebar – Never surprise people; you don’t know where they are at and the surprise could turn to distress. [And believe people when they say they don’t like surprises.]

The boundaries of what I thought were my contentment were tested and shaken. Sobbing and reverting to old patterns, I failed miserably. Or did I?

After one night of a solid pity party, the next day I shook it off.

The day after the day after, it slowly it came to me that I shook it off quite easily and quickly. I got right back on that path of being appreciative and joyful but without a lot of thinking or effort. It felt like the most natural thing in the world; to carry on without feeling distressed.

What a fabulous gift to receive, a gift of testing your strength, without having to lose anything. Learning that you can, and will bend, but you won’t break.

Just knowing that my strength is still there, no matter what life throws at it, makes me feel even sturdier. And happier.

Thank you for the best Christmas present you ever gave me.