Hello from the other side.

Dear Diary,

Whew. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? Do you remember when I used to write pretty religiously about my four kids and my suburban home and my life as a soccer mom? (And as a lacrosse mom, and basketball, softball, football, drama, orchestra, and choir, too?) Those were the days, weren’t they? Frantic and fun and filled end-to-end with kid activities and grass mowing and neighborhood parties and book clubs soaked in wine.

Well, things have changed a bit.

Those smart, sassy, active, funny kids are grown now. Sam is a chemical engineer in Portland, Gus leads tours at a brewery/distillery in Lexington, Mary Claire is a teacher in Olympia, and George is finishing his degrees in Ecology and Music Performance in Boulder. Now they’re all smart, sassy, active, funny adults. It’s definitely a different world.

Vaguely familiar, but vastly different.

And that suburban home with 5 bedrooms and a full, finished basement? I currently live in a shiny, new 20-foot travel trailer in a beautiful retirement community with my adorable partner and our two dogs. My partner is a different one than the one before, and so are my dogs. I had to say goodbye to sweet Maggie and stinky Lucy a few years ago. Now we have Ruby and Sissy—rescue dogs who did more rescuing than I ever did.

Chris and I divorced in 2018 after spending nearly 32 years of our lives together. If you flip back a few pages ago, you might recall that I came out in 2016 after unexpectedly falling head-over-heels in love with my Pilates instructor. She touched my back to help position me on the reformer, and suddenly, everything in my past and present made sense. The feelings, the guilt, the questions, the leggy blondes. My coming out contributed more than a little to the divorce. And the Pilates instructor who changed everything is now blocked on my phone and on my social media.

Oh. And Chris remarried a couple of weekends ago. I found out on Instagram.

Oh. And in the last couple of years, I also lost my beloved mom and my only sister. My original little family unit is gone.

Forever.

So, here we are in a brand new era. A very different one. One with grown kids scattered across the country and a very kind, generous love and a teeny, tiny trailer home with a rainbow flag. 

But you know what I still have, Diary? Stories. Lots of them. New ones.

A million words yet unwritten.

I can’t wait to share them all with you.

Here we go! Are you ready, Diary?

Love,

Katrina