My Roller Coaster

It’s safe to say that 2006 and 2007 have been a wild ride of a couple of years for me. Maybe the wildest two consecutive years of my life. Last year, the breakdown and eventual end to my second marriage just about brought me to my knees. Although things had not been well for a long time, the actual end of it was a bitter pill to swallow.  It was downright ugly at times.

Last May, the mother of my two boys announced that she was taking a job and moving away some 200 miles away in another part of the state. Double ouch. For eight years, I had been used to being able to run across town to pick my boys up any time they needed to go somewhere. For them, coming to Dad’s wasn’t a big deal because they went back and forth so effortlessly. It wasn’t a perfect situation by any means, but I was sure able to be a dad to them.  Those of you who are in this situation know what I’m talking about. But for them to be in a completely different part of the state was foreign to me, and I’ve spent a lot of time grieving that change in our lives. I’m bitter that I have to drive four hours to see a ball game or go to a concert. I’m a family guy at heart, and I truly value things like commitment and involvement, so these things really do hang like a cloud above my head.

So between those two things, I have had a lot in my life that has just plain sucked. At different times, I’ve considered using this blog to vent, but for some reason it’s never seemed like the right time. Maybe this is a good time now. Oh, and a good change that happened to me, but not without some stress, is that I moved to a different town last summer. I’ve been working here in Hermiston for 6 years now, but I commuted 30 miles for the first five years. It’s nice to not have to do that any more.  Like I said, it was a good change, but tough to leave some friends and things that have been familiar to me for so long.

Now to get to some good stuff. I’ve twittered about Susan a time or two before, and on Christmas Eve, she agreed to be my wife. We’ve been together since last summer, and have been talking about future plans for a while now.  As terrible and gut-wrenching everything else has been, she has brought that much calm and order to my life. And it’s not just a one-way street, either. I’m able to provide things in this relationship that she needs. What’s really cool is that my family absolutely adores her, especially my boys. They’ve wanted to spend the night at Susan’s over Christmas break rather than my boring old apartment! Go figure. Anyway, we’ve got some rough times ahead (to be expected any time two families are put together), but I’m very encouraged by the tools we already have to go about solving those differences.  In the face of everything else, I consider myself blessed.

So there you have it.  It hasn’t been pretty the last couple of years, but I’m adjusting and sure have some things to look forward to.  I’ll let you know when the wedding takes place.