Writing in the Margins
I was talking to my dad last weekend about moving forward. Naturally, as we discussed my upcoming marriage to Jeff, the pull of the past made itself known. Sensing this, my dad told me about the best piece of advice he received after his mother passed away. "You have to turn the page," he told me. "You have to turn the page and start a new chapter." It seemed so simple, but in that moment I realized that I haven't turned the page on my chapter in Arizona. I have, instead, been trying to write in the margins. I have been trying to shove this new story into the cracks between the words and the space between the feelings of those past years. I haven't given Jeff a fresh page. I have given him the margins. I have written extensively about sadness, loss, divorce, and cancer in the past few years. I have clung to the hard parts of my story and honestly found it difficult to write with unabashed joy about my new life with Jeff. How can my words reflect