The other night my daughter Emma and I were talking, and I can’t remember exactly how we got there in our conversation, but before I knew it we were talking about the day her dad and I filed for divorce. In her younger years, I had answered questions about that day carefully, avoiding anything that might upset her. But this time, I was the one tearing up, the memory coming back so strong that she apologized for bringing it up.
It wasn’t an average day the day we filed for divorce. Every time I recall it, I remember how the day was filled with deep sorrow but also connection, a renewal of honesty, and very surprisingly tenderness.
And that is a story I want to tell here because after I got the courage to tell Emma the toughest and most beautiful parts about that day, the very first thing that came out of her mouth was, “You should write about it.”
And that thought, that admonishment, rang true in my head. Some of my favorite writers like Shauna Niequist, Anne Lamott, and Jeff Goins talk about how writers like me just need to tell our stories. We love a good story, don’t we? We never tire of stories and the ways they intersect and resonate with our own lives. But even when they don’t, that intrigues and informs us too.
So here I am. Starting at a place I’ve never been, to talk about some of the crazy, silly, eye-opening, hard and wonderful things I’ve come to find about life and love.
I’m 40. It’s a new year and an old me, and I’m ready to write about some of the ways God, and the best friends in the world, and my family, and yummy food, and fabulous exercise all have helped me get to 2014.
Kim Messer 