G'day to you, Gingerjem! Welcome to the wonderful world of being single! You're gonna love it here! Oh sure, maybe not right now but the day's not over yet. Give it some time. After all, you're only 51 and you were married (sadly, it sounds like not so happily so) for 20 years, you raised children, you made a home, you've sacrificed a pretty sizeable chunk of the life you've lived so far. Don't look at your situation as "starting over". Look at it as you being on your way to a new adventure and this time, you're going to fly First Class! Nothing but the best for you now!
I've found myself starting over more times that I care to admit. Some were marriages, others just relationships that fizzled. The longest one of either was only for 7 years so I won't pretend to know anything about what 20 years together with someone might be like. The only people I've known for more than 20 years are my parents, my children and my siblings.They're all good people but I don't want any of them keeping me warm at night. <wink, wink!>
Right now, it's about as tough being single as it was being in a bad relationship. But I didn't stay single or in that bad relationship forever. Things do improve and times change. But everything has always, eventually, gotten better. One can only go down so far before they're coming out the other side. Covid 19 really did a number (no pun intended) on social activities. It would seem too, that it's not going away by this weekend so we all need to practice and use new coping skills.
The best ting I did when I realized (read that as found) myself single again, was to pick myself up and get back in the race. (Fr: That's Life by Frank Sinatra) Life doesn't stop for anyone or any of us, no matter the reason we wish it would. But if you use your signals and just a little common courtesy, I bet that you'll soon be riding the highway of life and enjoying the scenery with the rest of us. Just merge on in there. Watch for an opening, smile and don't forget to wave to say thanks! Gratitude is appreciate by many of us. I wouldn't be in any big hurry to attach a trailer to your bumper anytime soon either. You'll find, I did anyway, that you'll get better mileage if you travel lightly. You can find what you need when you get to where you're going.
If you see me out there on life's highway, tap your horn at me and wave!! Even it it's not me that you see, smile and wave anyhow. There are a lot of people in this world that don't have smiles of their own, so I always try to give them one of mine to wear, until theirs returns. I always get new ones in return, usually even more than I give away, so there's never a shortage, always a surplus. you'd be surprised!
This will all be okay, I promise you and you'll see. You've got this and you'll get through it. You've made it through every other less than desirable event that you've been tested by and lived to tell the tale, this is just another bump in the road. Just drive safely but go now where YOU want to go!! Look where you're going to, not where you've been. It's gonna be amazing! Good luck! 😉
It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
