worth repeating

I've published this quote from my friend, and fellow writer Jeannie Ouellette before, but I ran across it again last night and I like it so much I think I'll post it again. Jeannie and I are the same age and she also has 3 children and we both got married really young and both got divorced around the same time (she a year or two before I did).

My favorite part of her essay on getting divorced:

"Marriage changed me; motherhood changed me more. But divorce and its aftermath changed me the most. I no longer have the energy to be desperately deferential. I’m turning into everything I never was before. I merge fearlessly in traffic. I park in tight spots (and sometime miss). I say no. I talk about my problems. I sometimes hang up on telemarketers (though I still cringe to admit it). And now I love someone again, someone who seems to love me more than I can explain, and I’m getting married again—even though it’s hardly perfect, given our kids and our pasts and our complicated present. Now, however, I don’t give a damn about perfect. I have what I need, and mostly what I want. I’ve paid for it all, and with that I can do well enough by everybody else, most of the time."

Yeah, what she said...