It's been 10 years now for me since I walked away and so I'm finding it interesting reading about the feelings of those of you more newly out. Some of us long timers to the site here have long ago done our grieving so it's a reminder to have more sensitivity to those just now going through it. I think we forget sometimes what it was like.

I was going through so many things when I left including grieving over the loss of my marriage and death of my husband that I think I made a concerted effort to try to forget. I made new memories.........

I have taken things like anniversaries and very purposefully planned something else that would be memorable. It's not that I forget the old events; I just have more than one thing associated with the date or time of year. Memories do come back at the strangest moments sometimes though. A few months ago I traveled up to Tacoma to visit one of the board members and I had some very vivid flashbacks to camping in Gig Harbor during a couple of summer assemblies. They were, for the most part, good memories so I was surprised at the feeling of sadness that accompanied the memory. I'm also getting older so those feelings of loss for a time that will not be again, like being a young mother with my babies and a husband sometimes creep in but I think the key is to make an effort to remember the things we have and have gained in knowledge over time. Life's an adventure to me these days and I don't always know where the road is leading but I try to enjoy the scenery along the way.

"I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief"

Gerry Spence