A Story About Two People

May the two of you THRIVE along with the kids. May God bless each of you.

Love that you shared this, REAL LIFE and you are living it. beautiful.

As always, you have shared your heart so beautifully. Thank you for being so open. I am glad to see you so happy and hopeful!

excellent! And yes, we scrapbook to tell the story as we live in the story.

Beautiful! You do have a gift of expression, and his touched me. I can relate as I'm also a single mom and have been through similar. Thank you for the reminder to always live in the present. We don't know where the next bend will take us.... But it's a life worth living and documenting. Thanks for sharing.

Cannot wait for you to write a book. Love this, girl. Thank you for sharing so deeply.

Wish you the best. :)

I have to admit that I was hoping for an engagement announcement at the end of this post. I'm pulling for you both as you live out your individual stories and your combined one.

Thank you, as always, for being so open to express what's going on in your life. That's what makes me feel I know you even though we've never met. And, it always makes me think about what's happening in my life. Not the same things at all - I'm not married and don't have children, but we all face emotional situations, we all have to make a decision to choose happiness and joy and we all have to open ourselves up to risk if we are to truly live. Your openness in your situation helps encourage me to be open in mine. Thank you.

I was looking at one of your PL posts the other day and thinking to say how much of a challenge documenting life can be when your partner is not your spouse. I wonder if I will look back at photos of our current "family", me, my daughter, and live-in husband-like person, and regret the decision to include or not to include him. If things don't work out, will it be sad? Am I screwing up her memories even though all three of us are in integral part of each other's lives? It's been weighing on my heart a lot lately but I hate to not take the photo or write the memory. My daughter is old enough now that she'll have all these same memories on her own, framed through her own lens. I can't wipe her slate clean expunging photos the way I have in the past. And I don't mean at all for this to sound negative. You're the only other single mom doing the same things I am doing and it begs some unique questions.

Love this, Ali.

oh i remember this. the fear of adding in someone new, someone who may or may not be part of the future. after the "failure" of a marriage (although that is such an incorrect perspective, i had a hard time shaking it), the pain/twinge/sadness of looking at old pictures and seeing in print where exactly the continuum was broken and never wanting to have THAT happen again. but if we want to go for the truth, our own personal truth, we need to risk it and include the things that are important to us TODAY, in the now, and be willing to live the adage about people being in our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
so proud of you and cheering you on as you move forward, always with grace, always with thoughts of your kids leading you. bless you for your eloquence and quiet dignity.

[…] was one of those days. I was reading this post by Ali Edwards (I follow her mostly for the scrapbooking eye candy, but she also has some great […]

Beautiful!!!

Touching, Ali. We often don't realize that our own story intersects with others' stories, whether those "others" are family members, friends, close relationships. "Softening", as you say, is a way of considering other options.

Thank you for your honesty and for sharing something so personal.

thanks so much for posting this Ali - you have such an amazing way with words! I appreciate your raw honesty - thanks so much for sharing your personal life with us :-)

wow. this hit close to home. my story is similar....going to read this to my amazing boyfriend right now. thanks for sharing, Ali. You have a wonderful way of telling stories.
~t

it's the stuff of poetry. you know you're a good writer when the reader feels like what YOU wrote could be written for & about them too. even if it isn't. you know you're a good writer when you are staying true to yourself, keeping details specific as tangible imagery, & vague enough, that they're still universal. you know you're good writer when not just other people tell you are. that even if no one ever reads what you've written, you know it's good. you're willing to risk the vulnerability & being brave bold soul continues to guide you forward. even when the last thing you feel is courage, you climb on.

I think I know this guy. Doesn't he wear a panda hat sometimes?
I'm so happy for you both, glad your hanging in there. You deserve love.

You are wonderful!