I did try changing careers to Pastry & Baking at one time, and even took classes in it. It wasn't really a "leap" type of move, just something I decided to try after being unemployed for too long, with other odd jobs sprinkled in between.

However, after a year and a half discovering just how aggravating and demeaning the "industry" is (not to mention grueling in labor), I happily went back to the most-often and relatively stress-free world of drafting.

Now, I do expect to have one of those leaping stories when I'm ready to publish my book, but I have to finish the damn thing first!

believe you me.

Once I've written another 60,000 words or so...

that's big

but I wouldn't mind 150k

It'll be a self-published ebook, so I don't have to worry about a publisher telling me that I can't go above 100-125k.

If you haven't ever looked, I recommend Joe Konrath's blog about self-publishing, although lately he's been taking the big publishers to task for their unfair business practices.

Yes, writing and publishing a book is one of the sweetest leaps to take. I'll never forget holding my book in my hands for the first time. I plan to do it again, after other more scary leaps leave me landing and then standing, hands outstretched...

I moved 800 miles away to another state to start a new life.

Best possible thing I could have done. I've started a new life, just live quietly, and have friends. It also inspired my younger son to move even farther away himself, some 1200 miles to yet another part of the country, and start his new life.

While there are still things I miss about being married and about my ex, in my most optimistic fantasies that the marriage had not ended, I can't imagine having persuaded him to move to this place.

I've also recently resumed writing and have even started submitting.

Glad it worked out so well.

But everyone is capable of moving on. You're entitled to be angry, to grieve, to mourn for a lost relationship and a way of life that's ended. But after a while you can no longer blame the other person. It is always up to us to make what we can of things.

Many years ago, a young woman I knew who was my age, was furious at her father because he'd just left the mother, and friend could not imagine mom starting all over again at the age of 46. It took me a few weeks to do the math, but my mom was 46 when she left my dad, an alcoholic who was becoming increasingly more abusive. She packed up the five kids still living at home (oldest brother was in the army) and moved us 2,000 miles across the country to start a new life. Best thing she ever could have done for us. It served as a role model for me my entire life.

I can't say that any of my decisions have been made without fear or angst, but I have always felt that the best I could do for my daughter was to do what I thought was the RIGHT thing even if it was probably gonna be painful in the short term.



Laura

Very powerful messages. It was great that you shared so much of your heart!

haven't hit the net yet. But I'll let you know when I do!

I look forward to it...and I wish you a safe and happy landing.

good luck

No nets so far. Was even a paratrooper in the Army. Must be my chosen life experience. Sometimes the landings are rough. Sometimes it's smooth as silk. I think it's a very individual thing.

dreamed that someone would reply from the point of view of an actual jumper, (from perfectly good airplanes, etc.)

SO cool! Love to hear any stories you want to share..

Last edited Mon Jun 4, 2012, 03:17 PM - Edit history (1)

But I have to add, these things have happened for me time and again, independently of whether I'm staying positive or not. The key is to recognize a blessing no matter how it initially appears.

In 1979, my Marine Corps husband got orders for a one-year unaccompanied tour to Okinawa. That meant that I and my two kids would remain at home without him at Camp LeJeune for a year. This was before computers and cell phones, and long distance calls were prohibitively expensive. Letters took over a week to get from one of us to the other. And the marriage was already in very bad shape.

The year passed excruciatingly slowly, but more and more I found myself thinking about just ending the relationship. But then he got orders to Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii. I simply couldn't subject my kids to four more years of his absence because at least he was a better dad than I had and they loved him. So I painfully decided to just let myself be picked up and moved once again from the east coast to a dot in the middle of the Pacific and take my chances. I remember clearly praying for the first time, telling God that I had no idea how things were supposed to turn out, but I was sure He did, so I would choose to trust and put myself in His hands.

It was so scary, though. A USMC friend gave me the contact info for a family he'd known forever, the dad being someone he'd served with. I put that slip of paper away to save until we got settled in our new home in Hawaii. We spent several weeks looking for the right place to rent off base, because we both knew there was a strong possibility we wouldn't make it as a couple. After we moved in, I dug out the name and address of my friend's friends.

I was shocked to discover they lived almost directly across the street from us. They were wonderful people who became our second family. My marriage ended three years later, and I ended up living there 5 years after we split.

My ex left for his next post on the mainland without providing for us to move back, but that was another story that required me to take matters into my own hands with the Marine Corps and did have a good ending.

Thanks for sharing it.