Loving My Life

Today is Valentine’s Day and I considered re-posting what I wrote last year, a piece called Single Awareness Day. February 14th can be a tough day for singles, especially us women who are fans of romance and sometimes feel incomplete without a partner.  However, I realized that this year I have so many blessings to count that to even think twice about being single would be to squander them.

In addition, my seven-year-old daughter Layla showed me the Valentine that she wrote to herself.  It read: Dear Layla, I love being Layla and that will never change.  Happy Valentine’s Day. Love, Layla.  I was overwhelmed by her love for herself and realized that she certainly had the right idea.  Today, and all days really, we should celebrate our love for ourselves.  Without it, we can’t truly love anyone else anyways, at least not successfully.

In the past, I have written alove letter to myself and also appreciation lists (the best of which, perhaps, is “50 Ways to Love Your Ex“), so today I am going to continue that tradition and give you all an update of how life has changed for us in Boston and how we are thriving.

1)    I love my new job. It has turned out to be a great position for me.  I have taken on new responsibilities like mentoring graduate student teachers and sharing pedagogical tips with them, and that has been a wonderful new challenge and source of stimulation for me.  In addition, my university is sending me to Madrid for the summer to teach a six-week course.  Since it will be such a great cultural opportunity for them, my ex has agreed to let me take the kids with me for the whole time.  We are all very excited about this new adventure.

2)    Boston is a great city. It has been very fun to live in a bigger metropolitan area.  In the last few months, I have gone to more museums than I have attended in years.  I love the excitement and newness of living in a new place, and have enjoyed making new friends and exploring new places.  In addition, my kids are attending one of the best public schools in the state.

3)    Our new custody schedule is working well. When we lived in Northampton, my ex and I had the benefit of being only 5 minutes away, and we were able to see each other and the kids almost every day.  That has undoubtedly changed as we are now in Boston, and he is still in Western Mass, and we do miss him.  The kids now stay with me during the school week and spend the weekends with him.  We meet about halfway across the state in Auburn every Friday afternoon after school, and then I pick them up there again on Sunday evenings.  This has allowed the kids to have the consistency of one household during the school days, and I have enjoyed having my weekends free to socialize, do school work, and go to yoga.  Furthermore, the kids have half days on Tuesdays, and I have arranged my teaching schedule so that I could get some down time with them on those days.  All things considered, this change has happened with relative ease, and I am so appreciative of that.

All in all, this move has been a great one.  It has enabled us to have new and exciting experiences while maintaining our bonds with our family and friends in Northampton as well.  As I contemplate my present situation, I feel so very pleased to have had this opportunity.

In the spirit of Layla’s Valentine’s Day card to herself, one of my dear new friends posted on Facebook a beautiful poem by Derek Wolcott called “Love After Love.”  I share it with you now as an inspiration for each one of us to look for love from within, instead of focusing on who is giving us love from without.  Happy Valentine’s Day.

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another; who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Related posts:

1. A Day in the Life of the Peaceful Divorcee
2. Alone and (Not Always) Loving It
3. Loving What Is
4. Summer Loving Had Me a Blast…
5. Small Town Life, or How to Make New Friends after Divorce