Divorce Survivors, Second Marriage Thrivers
I caught the Arrowhead bug the first time I heard about it. The year was 2019. Arrowhead had made national news headlines because a record-setting polar vortex had overtaken the northwoods just as Arrowhead 135 athletes prepared to take the trail. International Falls, Minnesota, was the coldest place in the United States – colder even
Valentine’s Day…. aka Divorce Season. YES, divorce season. Tis the very season that our own previous marriages came undone, and the fact that we are indeed mere statistics was confirmed this week by a divorce lawyer we know. (Her: It’s my busy time of year! Me: Oh really?? Her: Yup, every Valentine’s Day! Everyone tries
The good news is that you will have more bad days. I say this not to scare you, but to give you hope. If you are currently going through a divorce, experiencing the pain that comes with an unfaithful partner, or wondering where you are headed when it comes to a serious relationship, you might
On July 4th of 2020, we ran together. When I say ran, I mean I plodded along with heavy wheezing while Israel lightly trotted, wishing he had more weight in his pack. The goal was the Afton 25K Trail Run we had signed up for months in advance. I was supposed to train and be
How do we keep moving when the obstacles pile up higher than we can handle? When anxiety and despondency and exhaustion steal all of our energy? When stress cripples us? Life is a series of difficulties, one level after another. We graduate from one to the next and hopefully get stronger along the way. But
I wasn’t going to get married again. That was completely out of the picture. I was open to relationships, and I was willing to be committed on a day-to-day basis. But no more vows. No more legal ties and financial entanglements. Melinda was living with me. I loved her. But marriage was not in my
Six months after my divorce, I had to introduce myself to people I had seen all the time a year earlier. I had changed so much that they didn’t recognize me. I’d lost almost 60 pounds. I wore different clothes. I had a new haircut and corporately acceptable facial hair. Before my divorce, I had
It happened in a single day. On my way to work, the building was standing. On my way back home, the building had turned to rubble. That was the building I had dreamed about inhabiting. When I first saw it, I could hardly contain the excitement. It was the perfect location for the movement I
We’ve both had bad days. Believe me. We’ve had days where our entire realities changed before our eyes. Days where the documents were signed. Days where we didn’t know if we’d smile again. Days we didn’t know we’d be meeting each other in the future and never would have guessed we’d have a person to
This post is about MANLINESS … and humiliation … and taking help like a man. Yesterday I ran over something big on the interstate early in the morning while it was still dark. (It turned out to have been a black, full-size bicycle!) We were on the way to my daughter’s volleyball game—the only one
Israel and Melinda 