Just Thinking......

Today would be my twentieth anniversary.  It has been on my mind a lot.  What would I tell that young woman if I could somehow go back in time?  Would I try and talk her out of it?  She is me, so..............yeah.  She wouldn't have listened.

I shed a tear today.  Just one.  A tear for that young woman, who had no way of knowing that co-dependency is NOT love. For all the times she gave everything, to get nothing in return.

A tear for all those dear to me who were alive then, and no longer with us.  So many.

Would I change it if I could?  Probably not.  Mostly because to get to where I am now, I had to go through it.  Jaded?  Oh yeah.  Wiser? Much.  I know that I gained much more than I lost.

Through these twenty years so many new people have come into my life.  Some stayed, some were just passing through, but many of them wouldn't have been there at all if my life hadn't changed.

I thought today about the people who've stayed.   My family. The babies that were born, and the man who drives me crazy. ♥ The friends who are new, and those who have been here the whole time.  I thought about every way my life has improved, and how I have been able to share that, and even help some other women who were struggling......... and I smiled.