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Dear Reader,
** Be sure to check out AuthorBuzz today for a chance to win a specially designed presentation box containing a chess set and signed books. The link is right after the guest column.
Jacqueline Bickel is a business manager at a car dealership, has three children, two dogs and four cats (that she feeds) and a beautiful home in the middle of a valley in British Columbia. Believe me, it sounded like heaven when she described it to me on the phone. She invited me to stop by any time, maybe we should hold a big book club meeting at her house?
Jacqueline's column was chosen as one of the runner-up entries in the Write a Dear Reader Contest.
Thanks for filling in for me today Jacqueline. I sure do appreciate it.--Suzanne Beecher
The split came as a surprise to me--saying that my husband and I were "separated" felt strange on my tongue. It wasn't a turn of events that devastated me, on the contrary, I was relieved that the end had finally come, but it was still surprising that it had finally happened. Years of hurt feelings, disappointment, marriage counselling, and finally frosty silence had finally drawn its last breath and we called it a day. I asked him to leave and he did, quickly and without much fuss, like a dog that was eager to get out of a fenced yard.
Taking my wedding ring off for the last time and laying it in my jewellery box was bittersweet. I loved the ring and was sad to take it off. When that ring was slipped on my finger 14 years before, I thought I knew what my future would hold. I would have a loving husband, beautiful children, and we would build of a life together full of laughter and memories shared. As I laid that ring down on the black velvet I realized that I wasn't mourning the relationship I had, instead I think my mourning was for the hopes and dreams I had once harboured.
My home was now my own and my children were healthy. They lacked no confidence, they held no misplaced guilt for the break up, and they were actually relieved to be rid of the tension that had skulked in the corners of each room like a bad smell.
I knew I had done the right thing for us all, and as heartbreaking a choice as it had been, I could hold my head proudly. I was showing my daughters that they had every right to be treated respectfully and lovingly in a relationship and I was teaching my son that partners must cherish and cultivate their love for each other.
For the first time in my life, I had no idea what my future might hold, but I firmly closed the lid on that jewellery box, shutting my past regrets away where they belonged, and looked forward to whatever came next.
Jacqueline Bickel
AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these are five that deserve your attention: Margot Livesey, The House on Fortune Street; Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson, A Taste of Fame: A Novel; Irene Hannon, An Eye for an Eye; Maggie Brendan, The Jewel of His Heart; and Katherine Neville, The Fire. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
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