Opening a New Door
On June 12, 2013, my group for separated and divorced women met for the first time in the Guadalupe Room of my church. I had no idea that evening the huge door running the group would open in my life, but I knew it was something that I was drawn to do. Almost two years to the date later, on June 13, 2015, I will get ready for my wedding in that very room for my wedding.
It's been quite a journey and last night I ended the meetings for this group of women, with some additions and subtractions of members over the two years, and in the fall I will start a brand new group.
While no one's life is perfect and we all have parts of life we find challenging, it's time for a new journey for each of us. A half hour before my wedding ceremony, the group of us will gather in the room for a prayer, the last time we will meet there together, a time I see as graduation.
Of course it's sad to see them go as they have taught me as much as I have learned from them. I have been amazed at their journeys and I will take what they taught me not just to the next group but into a book that I will finish writing in July.
They have grown so much in these past two years and much has happened in their lives– and mine. To listen to them say they have happy moments now, that they know it's time to move forward, to see their excitement that up ahead they have many unknown opportunities awaiting them,, is gratifying to me. I am grateful that I have been part of their journeys and had that chance to watch their growth.
While I start a new journey in my life with Greg, for them there also is a new door to open. I see my wedding for all of us as a day to celebrate all that we have learned and shared, and for them to see that they, too, can have that happiness of a marriage once a again. I believe that will come for all of them in time as they continue to process the long marriages they had that ended and find out who they are what they truly want from life.
Several years ago I found these "inspire bracelets" at the St. James church gift shop in Redondo Beach, California, where I attend Mass when I visiting there. I bought one for each of the women in my group and had Fr. Eric at church bless them one day after Mass; he even sprinkled a bit of holy water on them. I chose turquoise because Native Americans have traditionally used it as a healing color. I gave them each one last night.
The bracelets are a reminder of how far they come, of what they have learned, and the excitement of what's ahead.
