Survival turns to living

I was talking to my very good friend on the phone who lives at Salmon Beach. I follow his blog so check it out if you can. Anyway, I was telling him that I was thinking of changing my blog name to "Queen of the Beach" at the suggestion of my son. This came up after my previous post about dogs in my life. And my friend made the comment that I had survived. I had to think for a minute and indeed, I have survived. There is no longer a need for "Empty Nester Survival".

Survival has turned to living. I guess it is kind of like an accident victim. If the wounds are deep, they need intensive, round the clock care and life as they know it is even in jeopardy. But then, those wounds begin to slowly heal due to that intensive care. At that point they have survived but they have not healed. That takes time. That takes the "one day at a time" philosophy. So they make small strides in their recovery and one day, suddenly they are back to where they were before. Finally, they realize the can live again.

The great thing is that looking to the future, my sons will be such a big part of my living, loving and being happy. I think, no I know, we will always stay connected, they will never be too far away, permanently anyway. The things our parents were able to enjoy with them will be things my husband and I can enjoy with them and whatever families they may have. And, if they never left home this wouldn't be the case. So, it just took me longer than most to realize this.

I have so much to look forward to. I am so lucky to have my life, my husband, my sons and everything that a future with them holds. I have survived. I am living again!