After one or two vodka tonics, sorry….

So today didn’t turn out quite so happily as I wanted it to.  I drove Ryan out to pick up his kids, and dropped them off at his mom’s house.  I came home and took a shower and all that, and ended up going out to the Brewhouse by myself.  I have always considered going to a bar by yourself to be something that only alcoholics do, but I was so lonely and didn’t want to spend the evening on the couch watching TV.  I didn’t go to Cafe Coco because I wanted to talk to people, and whenever I’ve gone there it’s always been to read or write – the people who decide to strike up a conversation are always just a bonus.  I know that people go to bars to not be alone, so I figured that at least one person there would be willing to talk to me, and for all I know it could be interesting.

So I went, and did meet a couple of people.  I asked one person what his “story” was (probably because he reminded me a little of Joel), and he didn’t really know how to answer that.  I told him that I just meant for him to tell me what the biggest milestones in his life have been (he had at least 20 years on me).  He still didn’t have much to say.  I related that after I moved to Nashville for college, I had given up a baby for adoption and my husband committed suicide 6 weeks ago.  He was…I guess kind of dumbfounded.  He said that in his 50+ years, nothing so dramatic had ever happened.

I told him that I envied him.  What I really meant is that he was lucky.  

These kind of life events don’t happen to everyone.  I know.  But when I tell people – because I do, because both of those things have been defining parts of my life – I don’t want them to pity me and be awkward.  “It is what it is,” as Ryan is so fond of saying.  It’s true.  The BEST that I can make of the situation — AND I MEAN THE BEST — is to learn and to grow as a person.  There will be other details that I discover down the road, but at this point, that is what I have learned.  

I’m interested in seeing how I change because of all of this.  I know I changed after Sarah was born (and, honestly, that’s probably the only reason Matt liked me enough to move in and eventually marry me).  I will never be the person I was on February 20, 2013.  That person died with Matt, and this is almost comforting to put into words.  

I miss him so much.  I can’t put THAT into words.  I doubt that it would help if I could.