Happiness is working together

Unbelievably happy. That’s how I’m feeling lately. So happy, in fact, that you can’t wipe the smile off my face. Not because everything’s perfect and golden in my life–because it’s not. (Is there ever a perfect life?) I’m happy because everyone in my house is ‘showing up’ and taking accountability for our family. We have issues, the kids have issues, hell, even the dog has issues! Issues doesn’t mean bad. It means there are always things to work on to be better.

My husband is a rock. Strong, steady, and not afraid to discuss problems and tackle them head on. When you blend a family of 10 (with 3 exes in the picture), you’re carrying semi-loads full of baggage into the family. You really can’t avoid it. And when exes, or their spouses, or the kids act up, you add that to the already there new-couple adjustment.

As I’ve mentioned here before, my boys have been hit the hardest from our post-family-breakup. They’ve struggled in school, with friends, with effort levels, a lot. We are at a place where each of them are taking accountability for ‘checking out’ of their lives to try and mask their pain, and we’re talking about it. THAT is an accomplishment.

The bonding that is going on between all of us is amazing to watch. We are building the foundation of our family–it can be exhausting but it feels right. We’ve finished a new home. We’ve planned vacations. We’ve cried over a lost baby. We’ve stuck by the kids through ups and downs and didn’t walk away or send them away like other people do. We’re doing the work. And damn, Gina, it feels good.

I’m a firm believer in starting over and second chances. It takes time to find footing again but it can be done. I never thought I’d find “comfortable” again, but I did…and then some.