Simply Living

Earlier this week, I was writing in my journal, and I thought about something that hadn't crossed my mind in a while - i.e., how much of my adult life has been about getting through whatever I'm experiencing at the moment.  Without going into the survival patterns I learned in my childhood that were carried on into adulthood, let me simply say that my adult life has been full of "big things": 

• joining the Mormon Church
• going on a mission
• getting married
• going through law school
• trying to get established in Vancouver
• adding several children to our family
• debating (for several years) moving to the States
• moving to the States
• getting established in Utah
• moving to Ohio and back
• going back to school
• re-establishing my legal career
• going through the process of completing three adoptions and welcoming another biological child
• moving into a period of serious marital problems with my ex-wife
• coming out
• Going through the whole divorce process
• Meeting Mark and entering into a relationship with him
• Leaving the Mormon Church, and
• Establishing a new direction in my career

Now, however, I stand on the brink of a truly new chapter in my life when I can perhaps - at long last - simply LIVE - something I've wanted to do my entire life.  I can now - rather than coping with monumental challenges on a daily basis - devote my energies to spiritual growth, to my relationships with my children and with Mark, to my work and to simply living each day as it comes, welcoming it instead of dreading it, living life instead of merely trying to just get through it.