One hundred down…

265 Marbles -

…265 to go.  Ugh. 
    Rather than becoming overwhelmed at the pile of marbles still ahead of me, I’m going to take an inventory of some of the major awarenesses I’ve come to over the past 100 Marbles (okay, 101 if you include the Leap Year marble): 

1.  I’ve learned to KISS - Keep It Simple Sista.  Decide which battles are important with my kids and let go of unimportant ones like dinners that they won’t like until they’re in their twenties.
2.  What doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger - yep, it smarts to be broken up with (for the second time) by the man who I’ve known and loved since we were kids,  who I lost my virginity to,  who is the father of my children.  But marble by marble I’m getting stronger.
3.  I need more fun in my life - and thanks to some willing friends and my newish running partner, I’m starting to have more fun.  Being a parent and having fun aren’t mutually exclusive.  Yippee!
4.  Sometimes the place where you find yourself may not be what you expected but if you’re resilient and change your frame of mind, it can be just as awesome.  I didn’t expect to be a woman who only has her children half the week, but as a writer, a student, and someone who also has a job, the outcome is more than acceptable.  I’m actually a better part-time mother than full-time mother (yes, they are my children, always, but you get what I mean).  
5.  I have some weed thoughts, interesting worldviews, fears, and less than stellar opinions about myself that keep me from living the life of my dreams.  I’m hoping the next 265 Marbles will help me with these, awareness by awareness, choice by choice, action by action. 
6.  I’m learning to live by myself - scratch that - with myself. 
7.  I recognize and appreciate everyday miracles like angels in hardware store vests (Marble 324) and the smell of rain on warm cement. 

The list could go on, marble by marble, but these are the major shifts in perceptions that have allowed more room in my life for more of me. 

What are your major awarenesses since your own breakup?