Endings Make Way for New Beginnings

There are always two sides to a coin... and no, I'm not using the glass is half-empty or half-full analogy.  I'm just saying that we always have a choice.  No matter how much we cry, or complain, or concoct stories to redeem ourselves, I'm telling you, we always have a choice.  And sometimes, life is not as complicated as we make it out to be.  Maybe some of us just have a deep love for the arts like, say, theater... so we over dramatize things... blow them out of proportion... or simply love playing the role of the victim.   As you know, victim stories have a captive audience.  Hence, the huge market for soap operas in all cultures... even dubbed in our native tongue or dialect so we can relate to the oppressed characters and say "See, these things also happen in other parts of the world."  The number one advocate being women.

I come from an 18-year marriage that bore three amazing children.  My love story began when I was fourteen in Manila, continued in the US when I was nineteen, marriage solemnized shortly before I turned twenty one and ended when I turned forty.  I was verbally and physically abused by a womanizer... unknown to many except for the closest family and friends.  Don't get me wrong... I was in love.  In between the fights and rough patches, there were many happy memories, too.  I wanted to teach my children good Christian morals and values.  I wanted to paint many happy childhood memories for them.  For the most part I think those goals were achieved.  But it was inevitable that remnants of the abuse would rear in its ugly head leaving night-marish memories not only with me but also with our eldest child.

Maybe I had waited too long to get out but what's done is done.  I cannot live in the what ifs.  I live for today.  I chose to forgive my ex-husband for all the heartaches and pain of the last 18 years and thank him for giving me three beautiful children.  I also forgave myself for staying that long.  I played the victim but I'm done with that part.  I no longer want to be miserable.  I choose to be happy.  I am grateful for all the blessings in my life.  I am thankful for a new beginning.  I had to end a chapter in my life in order to start a new one.  The decision did not come easily.  Unfortunately there were a lot of collateral damage... with children involved as well as family and friends caught in the middle.  

But we are all doing our best to support one another.  Every 24 hours the sun comes up and we get a chance to do things better than the day before... a chance not to commit the same mistakes... a chance to start a new story... a chance to fulfill our dreams... a chance to say "Thank you, Lord, for a new beginning."