Vacation continues to be relaxing, but there’s been a bit of a setback in recovery today. In talking to the housesitters this morning, I found out that my ex-wife had been to the house to retrieve the last of their belongings. Although she had already told me she was coming to do this while I was gone, I guess that I had been holding out hope that she wouldn’t do that — that somehow we were calling each other’s bluff. It was the first in a series of milestones that solidify the fact that there’s no turning back (next will be the divorce papers, selling the house, and finalizing the papers – 90 days in Pennsylvania).

Facebook has been very therapeutic during these trying times, in more ways than I could imagine. It proved that again this morning, juxtaposing two statuses from friends which had nothing to do with my situation, but echoed the two mantras that I have been trying to hold myself to. And today, I needed the reminder.

So now I will redouble my efforts to keep the two above quotes in mind. Meanwhile, I have the beautiful North Carolina coast in front of me and I will attempt to relax and continue to push the memories of my former family away, because they are just too hard to bear.