Bring On Lemons

Today's guest post is written by  friend of the woman who submitted the letter to her soon to be ex- husband, and his mistress , in light of his cheating (originally discussed in "Crawling Out of the Dark". Dear Friend, You are so strong. I know you don't feel very strong right now, but you are. You could have handled this situation in so many different ways. Instead, you confronted the situation head on with your head held high. You didn't crawl into a bottle. You didn't run to the arms of another. You continue to be a wonderful mother and friend, you continue to work hard helping others and enjoying life to the fullest.  I wish I could do something to ease your pain. I wish I could do something to help you see none of this is your fault. You are beautiful inside and out. Your husband's wandering eye has nothing to do with you. He is broken; you are not. Soon enough that sparkle in your eyes will return. The confidence in your stride will be back...

I don't know if everyone remembers a previous post: "Crawling Out of the Dark" about a woman going through a difficult time with a cheating spouse. I previously shared her excellent letter to her husband and now here is her letter to the mistress! This fabulous letter is absolutely worth sharing. And here it is! Dear Other Woman, Quite a bit of time has passed since the last time we have seen each other. I do have several questions for you. All of them are cruel and all of them are direct. So let's get started, Question #1 Why my husband?  You would provide oral services for a man and in return get a little bit of attention maybe and if you were lucky some affection. That’s not a relationship, that is a man being a selfish asshole. Question #2 How come you never went away? I hadn’t heard from or about you for years until I was informed you had invited yourself to our wedding.  Are you a whore version of Batman? Hiding in the darkness to prey on marri...

I don't know if everyone remembers a previous post: "Coming Out of the Dark" about a woman going through a difficult time with a cheating spouse. I think she wrote a fabulous letter worth sharing. And here it is! Letter To my “Husband” Dear Husband, While everyone, including myself, is so busy blaming your mistress for your affair I don't want you to forget you are to blame too. In fact you are more to blame than her. You are a horrible person. You have spent our entire relationship lying to me about her. In fact you have spent your entire life lying to everyone. That is how we got to this point, you are a compulsive or maybe even pathological liar. You lie about everything or at the very least exaggerate details in almost every sentence you speak. Your family makes excuses for you, your friends allow you to be dishonest, and you continue to treat people like crap. Basically everything in life is about you and what you want. Never do you stop to think abo...

Looking for some advice for a mama in a tough situation. What do you do when you're in the midst of a separation/divorce? How do you move past the feelings of despair, sadness, loneliness, worthlessness, and move forward to the happy life ahead of you? Are those steps different if your spouse or significant other was cheating? What if they were addicted to drugs? Alcohol? Porn? I shared my story in a video today, but it's been so long for me. I'm not really sure what advice I can offer. All I can say is I've been there and I know too well the dark feelings. That internal voice telling you that you failed at something really important. The anxious feeling of not wanting to run into that person, but the simultaneous longing to see them. I drank too much, I didn't give myself enough credit for being strong and beautiful, and I did a lot of things wrong. Despite all that, I did some things right... I put everything in storage that mattered (that was 2 totes of clo...

New Years is a time to reflect, make resolutions, blah blah blah ... but what if it was more than that? What if you could go back and change the past instead of simply changing the future? What if you had magical powers for a day? Better yet, a fairy god mother/father who could help you travel back in time to right a wrong or change the outcome of a difficult situation? Here's a little story about just that ... is there a moral to the story? maybe...but that's for you to decide. Enjoy! Time to Decide My throat dry, my eyes felt full of sand, and my head was throbbing. I should blame the Marlboro Lights and the red wine but instead I will blame the son of a gun who promised to love honor and cherish me until death. Dammit Ben, you swore this was happily ever after. Where are you now? You may not care, but I’m staying in some shit hole hotel in the middle of nowhere. I pick up my cell phone to text him something smarmy about today being Christmas day or a happy annive...

I finished this short story a few days ago (in a notebook with a pen - specifically a fine point pen, because they're so much nicer to write with) and it just took a while to get it polished up enough for the blog. I'll be showing it to my writer's group next week which will mean even more changes and hopefully it will be my next submission - and the winning submission I hope - for an upcoming flash fiction contest. Please share your thoughts on the blog, or with a private message/email. Thank you as always for your support! "Honey, are you sure you're feeling okay?" "YES. Why do you keep asking?" "Oh...no reason really...you just don't seem yourself." ...silence... ...furnace kicks in with a whirrr... ....plip...plop...the faucet must be leaking again... The same conversation that always leaves the room feeling large and empty. I imagine that most couples start the day with a good morning kiss or enduring exchange. We did...

A little flash fiction for this Sunday evening - enjoy (and there's  a bit of a lesson at the end if you're into that sort of thing)  ~~~~ I dug my nails into my arm hard. I was hoping to draw blood. I wanted the physical pain. They were fighting again on the other side of the door. Daddy asked me to wait outside as things escalated. He knew I would be upset and he was trying to make things seem as normal as possible. Normal? Really? Even he didn't believe that anymore. Tonight the fight began over the color of curtains. Mom asked Dad what color he thought would be nice. He chose blue and she responded by telling him how hideous blue would look. He threw his hands up in the air with a sigh "Why do you even ask? You know you couldn't care less what anyone else thinks anyway." ...and they were off... She was upset because this and he was upset about that and they dredged up all the past fights and problems of the last few decades. Truth be told he gave ...

With the divorce rate in the United States being 41% for first marriages, 60% for second marriages, and 73% for third marriages - it is important to have support and a plan for healing. Moving on doesn't mean pointing fingers; to truly move on, you need to learn about yourself, set goals, and have a clear laid plan for yourself. Though it is important to ask "what went wrong?" with your marriage, it is more important to look at what went right. What typically happens when you dwell on what went wrong, is finger pointing. Even worse, you can start to feel like a failure because of course, you didn't get married with any plan on getting divorced. Don't be afraid when you have feelings of longing for the other person. In time, you'll realize that you aren't missing the person as much as you are missing what you intended the union to be. You feel like something is missing because you had no intention of going through life single. What went right in your m...

This is a rough draft at a flash fiction piece - comments are appreciated. It needs to be shortened considerably to meet contest requirements. A Suitcase of Bitterness and Sacrifice Her favorite silk panties were in her hand. They sent a chill up her spine. The day she bought them she marched confidently into Victoria Secret with the gift card from her husband. That day she felt like a princess. Today, the panties brought her no delight. She thought about all the sacrifices she had made and every gift he gave her made her bitter. She felt dirty and alone. The lavender panties with lace details were no longer beautiful and soft in her eyes. To Veronica, they were dirty and shameful. Instead of folding them in her suitcase, she tucked them between two pairs of boxers in Charlie’s underwear drawer. “You’ll miss me you son of a bitch” …Veronica muttered… The dress she bought on the cruise they took in celebration of five years of wedded bliss. The dress weighed practically noth...

And this my friends, is my submission to the 2012 Spring Flash Fiction Contest. All characters and the story line are completely fictional - enjoy! (and wish me luck) The Hardest Words to Hear It was another busy day at the office. Portia was off to another meeting in a few moments and as she grabbed her water from her bag she saw the crumpled bills that Klaus had tossed at her the night before. She didn't remember how the fight had begun, but it ended with him throwing the bills in her direction and muttering “go buy some shoes or coffee or something tomorrow”. They both knew that all the money in the world wasn’t going to fix their broken marriage, but Klaus knew that a little retail therapy would go a long way in brightening Portia’s mood.  And after all, they had plenty of money now. Unfortunately, it didn't bring back their baby. Portia got pregnant early in their relationship. It just took that one time on the lake up north. Neither of them could believe it, a...