Who Am I?

What a seemingly simple question and yet is it really? I thought I knew who I was for the bulk of my life. I was the second oldest of four siblings and the only girl. I grew up in a conservative, Catholic family. As the only daughter of an Italian father, I was indeed naive and very sheltered. I spent my early years in the Bronx, moved to the suburbs of NJ attended Catholic schools through college. In fact, I did not set foot upon a public school campus until I was in graduate school. I married, had two sons, followed my husband around the country to advance his career, while taking care of the aforementioned sons, one of whom had special needs, and hosting events to support my then husband’s career. I looked forward to growing old with my husband, enjoying grandchildren together, and traveling when our children were grown. But alas my soon-to-be ex husband did not have the same plan. He apparently had had enough with my special needs child, our family in general and marriage specifically and decided to move across the country to Texas and never look back. I was lost, panicked and hurt beyond measure, until the anger took over but that is a post for another day. My journey could have ended there, but thankfully it did not. I discovered that somewhere in my sheltered idyllic past, I had grown a spine and after crying so much I thought I would dehydrate, I picked myself up and moved forward. The journey has not been easy, but it has brought joy, sorrow, struggles, successes and humor. This is what I hope to convey in this blog. It will touch on a variety of topics: being middle-aged and suddenly single, raising boys on my own, worrying about and caring for aging parents, learning how to take care of myself and gulp, my house, supporting myself financially on considerably less money than I was used to, dealing with autism, going back to graduate school in my fifties (and if that doesn’t provide humor, nothing will), learning why I need a tool box and the value of a good handyman and mostly learning that life can and should be fun. I have no idea how to blog. Truth be told, it took me longer to figure out how to set this up and post than it did to write my first few posts, but hey, I’m on my way to new endings right? And I have to start somewhere! I hope this blog makes you think, makes you laugh and occasionally makes you cry, but mostly, I hope you enjoy the journey. I have no idea where it will take me, but then, isn’t that what new endings should be all about??