You Just Do

As you may or may not know, my blog's name comes from my not so fortunate history of things just...not going quite as I planned.  As a testament to this fact, I've created the "Chalk It Up" Series. This series is open for anyone to post. If you would like to write about a time when things didn't go as you had hoped, but you were able to shake it off and live your life afterwards please contact me! 

You can read the past "Chalk It Up" Posts here & here

Today's post was inspired by a call I received from a young man at work.  The company I work for is a jewelry financing company. We often deal with people purchasing engagements rings and wedding rings for their significant other's.  Well, yesterday, I was speaking with this guy who had recently broken up with his girlfriend and he was saddled with the burden of paying for the ring anyway as the store wouldn't take the return.  

At the end of the call, I told the guy "You know, I'm really sorry this happened. I know how that can be. I've totally been there." 

He asked me "How do you get over a thing like this?!" 

I said to him "Sir...You just do." 

Once upon a time, I was engaged to a lovely young man who was far too handsome for me.  I thought he was way out of my league and I felt...blessed to have in my life. We had this whirlwind of a romance where we fell in love so quickly. We were just...intoxicated by each other. 

That's us. For give me, this is before I knew about tweezers.

But then one day, it all fell apart. To this day, I really can't tell you what happened.  All I know is that I was devastated. My life was over.  I spent months crying myself to sleep just hoping and praying for things to change.  It was just so hard. I was 19 years old, working a dead end job.  I had just joined the Army Reserve because I wanted life to be easy for us. I wanted to be able to be with him, so I chose not to go active. It was kinda huge.  The entire course of my life had to change. 

Then all of a sudden, I started to just...feel better. It was like I had just realized that he didn't make me who I was.  That I would be okay and that life really does go on.  I started going to school.  I lived on my own for a while. I became a Soldier...I saw that there was far more to life than a boy.  To be honest, I don't think I really got over it until we reconciled and became friends.  Sometimes, I'll still feel a little sad about it, but I know that I'm a better person for the experiences that I've had.  Yeah, it sucked, but now I can look back on it and just remember the good parts.  Now we can talk and laugh and be friends and it really is...okay.  

Being able to take this HUGE thing in stride (okay, so at the time, I didn't take it in stride, but it has taught me to take other things in stride) has really helped me deal with other colossal changes in my life.  Now, I really can just...chalk it up to better luck.