Displaying items by tag: life

My boyfriend, who would eventually be my ex-husband years later, and I approached several of the cats at the humane society in hopes of finding one that would make a good fit for us in our first apartment in Florida. We had just moved from Pennsylvania in July of 2012. 

Several of the cats were sleeping as we looped the area. Some cats were awake but didn’t seem interested in socializing. Then we came to a small, black kitten. She reached her tiny paw through the bars to play and I gently squeezed it.

Glancing at her identification card I saw the name “Jinx" and she was born June 24, 2012. Her friendliness and energy were infectious as we watched her continue slipping her tiny paw between the bars like she was marking us for her own. It was hard for me to step away to continue searching, but we left and went home.  

“Life begins on the other side of despair.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre 

When what appeared to be my forever life crumbled before my eyes a few years ago, I couldn’t see a way out of my despair and pain. All the memories, conversations, trips, and Netflix binges vanished along with my husband’s love, my house, and my happiness. I couldn't imagine a life without my husband. I had formed habits and routines around the life that he and I had created. I had been in a comfort bubble with no desire to leave. 

“You must give up the life you planed in order to have the life that is waiting for you.” Joseph Campbell

When I got married, I thought my life was going to be predictable. My husband and I had our own hobbies, habits, routines, and traditions that we introduced to each other and we were starting our own together. I enjoyed cooking and baking new healthy food from the YouTube channels I watched, I did Yoga, and I worked out probably way too much. My husband played Magic the Gathering online and in person, went fishing, played other video games, and was part of the Men’s rugby league in our city. We were both teachers and had the same days and summers off. Every few years we would go to the Florida Keys to fish, snorkel, and kayak. We visited our family in the summer and at Christmas. His parents would come to spend Thanksgiving with us. I couldn’t imagine, nor did I want to imagine, anything other than that. It was familiar, comfortable, and safe.