Tuesday February 7, 2012

I am happy to report that today was less shitty than yesterday! Actually, today felt like progress. Progress on the work front for Dan as he organized his travels for the rest of the month. Progress on the home front as I checked things off the to do list. Progress on the emotional front as Dan and I each lunched with a friend and shared some thoughts and feelings. Progress for Erin as she also shared her feelings in a less angry manner. Even some progress on the family room as paint started going up on the walls. So far, we are really happy with what we see ...

We've started thinking about our happiness level, for lack of a better term. We know we will never go back to the carefree joy that we used to have - something we now describe as our 100% happiness level. But, what level can we get to? 70%? 80%? Really hard to quantify. We are helping Erin come to terms with the fact we can't go back, and our lives will never be the way they once were. But, we can work our way back to some level of happiness. We can cope. We can persevere. It will be a slow climb, with steps forward and sometimes back, but we have to have hope that we will again find happiness in our lives. And it will be a new kind of happiness, hard earned. We have to believe we can get there.