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 <title>firstwivesworld - The New Me - Comments</title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/house-bloggers/elaina-goodman/the-new-me</link>
 <description>Comments for &quot;The New Me&quot;</description>
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 <title>Being on the other side isn&#039;t just pretty darn good . . . </title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/house-bloggers/elaina-goodman/the-new-me#comment-5634</link>
 <description>. . . it is FABULOUS.  This is coming from someone in the depths of depression last winter, who never thought she would get out, as the pain was so dark then.  However, I am now through my 1 year anniversary since my divorce, I have started an amazing holistic health business that I am making a lot of money at while loving every minute, I have plans to travel to England, Barain, and Buenos Aires this year, and I am having a blast dating (I didn&#039;t realize I could be so popular with the men:).  Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can!</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:56:11 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Guest</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 5634 at http://www.firstwivesworld.com</guid>
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 <title>What a great post!!  Thanks</title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/house-bloggers/elaina-goodman/the-new-me#comment-5632</link>
 <description>What a great post!!  Thanks for sharing.

Faith</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:55:28 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Faith Eggers</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 5632 at http://www.firstwivesworld.com</guid>
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 <title>Gotta love the other</title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/house-bloggers/elaina-goodman/the-new-me#comment-5631</link>
 <description>Gotta love the other side!
RBYS</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:45:49 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Guest</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">comment 5631 at http://www.firstwivesworld.com</guid>
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 <title>The New Me</title>
 <link>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/house-bloggers/elaina-goodman/the-new-me</link>
 <description>&lt;p&gt;I&#039;ve been separated from Sam for 20 months now, living separately, anyway. We&#039;re not divorced and we&#039;re not even truly separate. We don&#039;t know what we are. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don&#039;t know anyway. Sam, he still wants it all back and me, I don&#039;t know how to finish letting go. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This Arizona vacation was my second family visit since the split. The first was Thanksgiving, a month after I left and I was too numb then to remember much of the trip. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In that year of firsts, everything is hard. Everything takes re-calibration. Everything is viewed through the lens of change. The difference is so glaring it&#039;s difficult to feel anything else. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This visit was the reminder about how time heals. Doesn&#039;t feel like it in the long slow recovery, but it&#039;s true. Regeneration comes. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being with my family, just my kids and I, felt natural and comfortable and right. Now I realize during that first year when I went to Arizona without him, to friends&#039; parties without him, to holiday celebrations without him, so much of what I missed was the familiarity of things being as they were. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For 13 years he was by my side. A lot of those times weren&#039;t so good. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the habit of being together faded, I don&#039;t miss having him on trips, at parties, at holiday celebrations. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I realize something. I like myself better on my own. I like who I am and how I relate to other people better this way. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Right now there&#039;s false sense of something, because the transition isn&#039;t done. Whether we get all the way out or move back in, I still have to negotiate change. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Either way, I know — and I want you to know — transition is temporary. And, as they say, the only way out is through. But there is another side. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Being on it feels pretty darn good. 

&lt;/p&gt;</description>
 <comments>http://www.firstwivesworld.com/community/house-bloggers/elaina-goodman/the-new-me#comments</comments>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/tags/separation">separation</category>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/tags/single">single</category>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/tags/socializing">socializing</category>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/stages/mind-and-spirit">Mind and Spirit</category>
 <category domain="http://www.firstwivesworld.com/summary/all/contemplating-divorce">Contemplating Divorce</category>
 <pubDate>Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:29:46 -0400</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Elaina Goodman</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">7032 at http://www.firstwivesworld.com</guid>
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