What Dreams May Come

My entire life, I've dreamed of having 5 things:

1. A walk in closet
2. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
3. A beautiful home
4. A husband to take care of, cook for, come home to, and love
5. Babies...to rock to sleep, take care of, raise, and dress in beautiful outfits.

I've had walk in closets, and I know one day, I'll live in a lovely home. Eventually, I'll meet a man who will actually know he does not want to live without me, and he will put a ring on my finger & I'll say goodbye to being free & single LC and hello to being Mrs.________(Insert Last Name Here.) I may never have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or maybe, maybe I will. But babies? That's a dream I'll never give up on...

And when I finally have little ones who have their Mom's sense of style, I hope I can trot around, holding my kids hands, in gorgeously chic dresses and stiletto heels, and look every bit as polished as Posh Spice.

I may not have David Beckham waiting for me at home, but I will be a hip & trendy Mom.

That is not an option.

Happens Every Day: LC's Must-Read Book of the Week

I love memoirs. Perhaps it’s because I’m a storyteller; as a writer, it’s second nature to explain a personal experience to someone as though I’m writing my own memoir. Somehow, telling people the bullshit that I’ve been through seems to help them through difficult times and gain some clarity they didn’t have before.

This is by far one of the most incredible memoirs I’ve ever read. Isabel Gilles’ voice in the book shines through; you can tell she is a novice at the whole writing thing, but it’s that voice—a real, true voice of a woman who survived the worst possible heartache—that makes even the biggest cynic empathize with her.

When her husband gets a new job in a small town in the Midwest as a professor at a university, Isabel is forced to move her two young sons and become a stay-at-home Mom. When he begins coming home a little later, she realizes he is having an affair with the woman who just started working in his department, and they finally decide to be together, despite much begging and pleading from Isabel. There is a scene in the book where she suspects the woman, who she befriended, was having an affair with her husband, and when she talks about infidelity while they are in a movie theatre together, her husband’s mistress turns to her and says, “It happens every day.”

When I read this book for the first time in the summer, it hit close to home for a few reasons, personal reasons…and flashbacks of the times I’ve been hurt and felt broken flooded back. When I was staying with Auntie Gloria in Las Cruces, New Mexico in summer this past year, she let me (as usual) stay in her bedroom, and as I laid in that big bed at night and read most of the book, I found myself in a little ball, crying as I read the last part of the memoir. It was so real and so heartfelt, it pulled at my heartstrings in a way a memoir ideally should.

Pick up a copy for yourself at your local library if you’re a recessionista, or if you’re the type who likes to add a new and wonderful book to your bookshelf, visit your local Barnes and Noble, or www.bn.com, or Borders Books and Music today. Everyone has a story, and this one desperately needed to be told.

The Divorcee Diva's Survival Guide

It is with great pride, that I, LC, announce to the world that as of next Fall, I will be going back to ASU once again. This time, I will be in pursuit of a 2nd Masters/Doctorate (Ph.D.).

What am I studying?

Marriage and Family Therapy.

A Brief, Unedited Transcript of a Conversation I Had With An Old Friend:

ME (LC): "I'm going to be a therapist!"
OF (Old Friend): "Like a massage therapist?"
LC: "What the f**k? You think I'm not smart, or what?"
OF: "Well when you put it that way, not particularly, but tell me more..."
LC: "I want to study marriage and family therapy, but I want to be a sex therapist."
OF: "Some would argue that massage therapists are sex therapists."
LC: "I'm not talking about happy endings, jackass. I'm talking about helping people sort through their problems, personally, emotionally, in relationships...this is going to be so awesome!"
OF: "Just don't tell them that you once went to a therapist in high school, that might not go over so well."
LC: "I survived on cans of Diet Coke and saltine crackers for months on end. I was a Mexican Mary Kate Olsen, I didn't go because I had relationship issues."
OF: "Just remember, 50% of marriages end in divorce."
LC: "So what are you saying? I'm going to be a failure? That this is pointless?"
OF: "No. I'm saying, it's been nice knowing you. You're going to be so busy solving everyone else's problems and failed relationships, I will not see you for the next 40 years."

I don't claim to have all the answers. I do, however, know that breakups are hard, no matter your age, or how serious the relationship may have been. They're hard for men, they're hard for women, and goddamn it, they're hard for all of us who have to hear you bitch about them.

In an attempt to soothe the broken hearts of fabulous women everywhere, this book "This Little Piggy Got Divorced" is a fantastic purchase for that girlfriend of yours who is still singing "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor in the shower and crying in your box of Entemann's Lemon Strudel at your kitchen table. Pick up a copy today at Barnes and Noble, www.bn.com, or Amazon.com, and give it to her in a nice basket, with some bubble bath and a bottle of Chardonnay. She will thank you later. So will your other friends, to whom she is spending her waking hours bitching about love gone bad.

And check back with me in 2 years when I'm a licensed therapist. I will need all the business I can get, to pay back the hefty student loans I'll have to take out to pay for this education.

Love, Actually.

Happy 43rd Wedding Anniversary, Mom & Dad.
You define what it means to be best friends.
You define commitment, loyalty, and dedication.
You inspire me to wait for someone who is going to love me
at my best...
when I am baking him a birthday cake & lighting all the candles...
when we kiss and forget whatever was wrong with the day...
when we discover a new place, idea, or feeling together...
and at my worst...
After an argument, or when I use every Kleenex in the box to wipe away my tears after
a broken heart,
a disappointment,
a death.
You are Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together' and George Strait's 'I Cross My Heart'
all wrapped up
in one couple.
And I'm so fortunate
that of all the blessings God gave me
Your marriage, the family you created for us--
has truly meant the most.

Love,
LC "Your Princess"