Reality

The reality about divorce is that family begins to have a whole new meaning. This is our reality.

Our reality is that our family structure shifted, healed, and expanded. It has take three years to get here, but perseverance, a good dash of hope and a lot of love for all the girls brought us to this point. This is the first picture of all the parents (and 1 Nana!) together, celebrating the girls dance performance with a little ice cream.

The concept of what it means to be divorced is changing. It does not need to be filled with anger, contempt, and resentment anymore. There is an openness now, a willingness to be open to try and come together in a different way. I know that what we are doing is not the social norm and it is hard for others to wrap their heads around our family tribe mentality.

It has been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster at times over the past few years. Life experiences gives us what we need to learn and grow. It is up to us whether or not we embrace the lessons those experiences teach us. Even though the four of us a parenting these girls, we also need to take time and parent ourselves. There is no manual for what comes next and we are improvising as we go. Kind of scary because we don’t want to screw up the girls, but also empowering because we are forging our own way, making our own definition of a divorced family.

Our time at the ice cream parlor was filled with laughter, hugs, fun, and love. Isn’t that what coming together as a family, however it looks like, is all about?