The Divorced Summer Adventures

Some of you may not know that I am divorced, and my daughter, Gabrielle, is from my first marriage. That whole phase of life was tumultuous to say the least, but we all came out of it alive and with a new future we are building together.

I made peace (although initially it broke my heart) that my daughter has to overcome some hurdles early in life that ever so slightly take away a bit of her innocence. She regularly has to pack herself up and get shuffled from house to house. She never has all her things in one place. While having two families, two bedrooms, two different routines, and two different parenting styles could be daunting and confusing, she handles it like a champ. This girl, fortunately, was born with a strong sense of who she is, where she is going, and what she wants.

While I see some signs of anxiety from time to time, mostly she goes with the flow in a very responsible and measured manner. She certainly does  need us to plot out her next moves for her so that mentally she can organize herself and plan for what's coming (a girl after my own heart). She constantly asks "Ok, so who will pick me up tomorrow? Whose house will I stay at?". The realization that she knows she doesn't just have one home and has bit more chaotic schedule than some of her peers breaks my heart a little bit every time I hear those questions. But she doesn't seemed fazed. She is surrounded by so much love.

You know who doesn't always handle the shuffling and the mental tax of divorce seamlessly?

​Me.

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