With little drama, the first real rain has arrived. Ushering in the start of a new week, and for my dear friend, the start of a new life.  Whether she wanted one or not, she awoke yesterday morning to find her husband not only packed but walking out that door. To be sure,  there was anger, rage and pain.  And surely a tremendous flood of tears. I don’t know about lost love…that’s a hard one to figure.  But I imagine the hurt cuts deep no matter if the thread for love was still thinly strung or severed many years ago.

As I lie in bed listening to the steady fall of drops against the window, I wonder about the lives we all lead.  About the decisions we all make when we’re young and hopeful.  The roads that lead us to the HERE and NOW.  Sometimes curve balls come in so fast, we don’t stand a chance.  Other times, we know it’s coming, and we still don’t swing the bat.  We just let it roll.  We stand in that batters box through thick and thin.  We accumulate the years of dormancy, then frustration, then anger and then overwhelming sadness.  For what we hoped would be a home run was nothing more than a strike out.  And we never even took a swing at the pitch.

But we’re resilient, aren’t we?  My dear friend is stronger than she knows, yet refuses to reach out to those who only want to help in any way we can.  To be a shoulder or an ear, or a sounding board.  I think about my own life, my own marriage, my own blessings.  I’m so lucky in everything that counts. Loved ones that extend across the country, with routine calls that only close-knit families would understand.  Happily married for almost 35 years, 3 wonderful children who have blossomed into 3 wonderful adults.  Each making their own choices in this world of theirs.  I’m so proud, so humbled and so very damn lucky.  And, if for some reason, an unexpected curve ball comes my way and manages to knock me off my feet, I have no doubt that I’ll be stronger in the end.  One way or the other, I won’t be looking back because tomorrow has only one path forward, just as yesterday’s path has already been washed away with the rain.