A New Chapter Has Begun

Hoots from kookaburra's at dawn have been replaced by the squawk of swooping seagulls. 

Lush green park-lands and treetop views changed to misty mornings overlooking a tranquil lagoon.

Like the turning of a page in a book with a cracked spine or the slide of fingers across steel strings during a chord progression... everything has changed. 

Everything must change. 

Where there was pain and struggle there is now a glimmer of hope. 

A new chapter has begun, a happier melody. 

While I may have less materialistically, I have more soulfully. 

What once was a door unlocking to a silent, empty flat has now become a house of bounding dogs, purring cats, nephew squeals - a place to be welcomed home. 

Even with it's smokey atmosphere, cluttered rooms and tainted memories - it is home.

The chipped and cracked pieces of me are starting to mend. 

With a chisel I am creating the life I want to lead and becoming the person I know I was born to be. 

I'm not saying this new way of life is easy, quite the opposite. 

Life has tested my strength. It still is. But each and every day I am learning to stand taller, keep my head held high. 

I am belly-laughing again. My smile is genuine.
And someone is smiling back at me.
Full lips spreading wide, blue eyes shimmering with something I can't quite name...
Not yet anyway.
Laced fingers and warm embraces.
A feeling of safety and warmth.
A feeling of glee.

I am lapping up books and researching true crime cases - discovering my passions once more. Putting my time and energy into the things that feed my soul... the things I had let go of when I'd let go of myself.

Now I am grappling to get those parts of me back, to put myself first for once. 

To be me.

There are still moments of sadness, of tears and heartache. 

Those are the moments that mould us into either the best or worst versions of ourselves. 

How we react to certain situations teaches us everything we need to know about ourselves. 

We are human beings constantly growing and learning... and I am grateful for each and every trial, tribulation, joy and deliverance.