brand new day

There's a song by Jake Scott entitled "Tuesdays".  He sings about the wisdom he gets from his future father-in-law as he asks for his blessing before he proposes.  The lesson that he passes on after 27 years of marriage is "I've come to know that love's not only the best days or the worst days, love is the Tuesdays."   Love is the every day, the mundane, the good morning kisses with messy hair and morning breath.  Love is the "How was your day?".  It's the "What's for dinner?", the prayer shared before dinner, and cleaning up the kitchen afterwards.  It's the "Hey honey, can you grab me a new roll of toilet paper?", and "Mom, can you pick me up at 4:30?".  Love is the "Text me when you get there.", and listening to what happened in second hour.  It's the "What do you want to watch?" those nights you decide to have date night on the couch.  And it's the goodnight kisses and I ...

The other night, my kids and I reconnected with their sisters from my previous marriage. It had been almost two years since we had seen them. During those two years, I was in a space where I needed to disconnect for a while. Regroup. Focus on getting up off my knees.  Even though the time we spent together were hard years filled with struggle and brokenness, we developed bonds beyond step-sisters, step-daughters and half-sisters. We became family, no technical labels, just family. The kids spent a good part of their childhood growing up together. They built forts in the woods and played make-believe. Some of them transitioned from Barbies to boys while others watched and wondered what was happening. We got into fights and then we made up. We ate meals together, vacationed together, spent Christmas together, celebrated birthdays together. We raised butterflies in the summer and went sledding in the winter. We made memories. It wasn’t perfect, but no family is. And in the midst of it...