Five years later...

Today is January 12. It is the fifth anniversary of the day I came home to find empty suitcases waiting for me on the bed. It was not a pretty evening...
I moved out that night.
It's been a LONG five years, I assure you. Full of learning and leaning, of laughing and lamenting, of loving and libation...oh yes, how I have learned to love that!
I must say, five years later, that I am OH SO proud of where I have landed. I own my home. And it's a beautiful home...full of furniture that I hauled home from consignment stores in the back of my wagon and pushed up the stairs all by myself. Every single piece. I also hung every picture on the walls. I even built the bookshelves. (With a little help from Allison...) I own my dream car now too.
There is nothing that I'm unable to do at this point. I pay the bills, plunge the toilet and take out the trash. I can get things up into the rafters-and down from the rafters. I have even learned how to take the leaf in and out of the kitchen table on my own. I water the plants and hose down the patio and wash the windows and clean the garage and even wash my own car. I also take it in for repairs and oil changes. I know how to check the pressure in my tires. I recently called and got a better rate on my car insurance and got a deal on my home owner's insurance at the same time. I do my taxes and I just updated my will.
I cook and clean and shop and gladly do repairs around the house. I have moved TVs up and down the stairs and I hang the Christmas lights each year. I've learned to barbecue and to get the lids off jars and use an external hard drive and I know how to hook up the cable and the DVD players and the printer and how to set the DVR...

And...I read and relax and sit on my patio and drink wine and watch movies and take long baths. I sleep in on my days off and haven't made my bed in years. I plan trips and go to baseball games and see movies in the middle of the day. I go out to breakfast and lunch and dinner and have drinks with friends--as often as I can. A dinner of cereal and toast while watching the ballgame in my jammies is truly delightful! I let the house go once in a while...and dishes sometimes sit in the sink for days. And it's just fine with me!
Honestly, these were things that were most difficult to learn. And I have mastered them now.
I have learned to breathe. And I smile. And I laugh a whole lot.
Yep, I've done pretty good.
Gimme five.