Happily ever after…or is it?

Never in my life had I wanted to get married.
But I did.
And when I did, never did I think I would get a divorce.
But I am doing that too.

Fate has a way to turn a life around in ways that we never thought it would.
And sometimes when you thought you are walking alone, along the path less taken, you noticed that you are never quite alone.

Since the time my own marriage fell apart, I’ve come to know quite a few of my friends are also going through the very same.
2 of them, are friends very close to heart.
Yet, as we grow up, we grow apart.
So much so that I failed to notice they too were having issues of their own.
Or perhaps, I was just too absorbed in my own issues that I failed to see theirs.

When one of them told me that it was over for her and her partner too, my heart broke for her..and I somehow traveled back in time.
I recalled her walking down the aisle, looking like the happiest person ever.
I recalled thinking “she has truly found her happily ever after..”
I recalled being happy for her happiness.
Naturally, she was the last person that would come to mind to end up in the same state I ended up.

Which made me think…
How arrogant of us, of me, to believe, almost blindly, without much foresight, in happily ever after.
To believe that things would just fall into place naturally like fairy tales.
When I had always known, life is far from a fairy tale.
That happily ever after… Is more like a phantom.
An illusion sold to kids by storybooks.

“Life, by its nature, is difficult, flawed, and imperfect.”

When I caught up with her, it has been years since we last spoke, no less than a decade since we last met.
Yet, we spoke to each other as if we only caught up yesterday.
Conversations came naturally, and we spoke candidly, comfortably..on our successes, and failures, our ups and downs, our highs and lows.
As we both confided in each other, shared our happiness and grief, laughed at our misfortunes, all issues, problems that once seemed insurmountable became a lot smaller..
“A good laugh heals a lot of hurt”
We laughed until it hurts, and then some more.

Something she said left me thinking. “Things aren’t inherently good or bad. It’s just our perspectives that made it good..or bad”
As we stand at what seems like the end of the road, It is important to recognize that this is also the beginning of something new.
To start afresh, to choose again, to not choose again, to take charge, to decide the path forward.

Perhaps, happily ever after is a choice too.
That we can consciously make, to be
Regardless of our circumstances.
Regardless of our status.