Brave Enough To Be Bliss

introduced me to the joy and freedom of real living, and taught me it was safe to say no, have conflict and receive from a man.

It has occurred to me that I no longer even want the Hallmark movie ending with John. But I ’ m human, and as you’ll recall a romantic too, so if I were going to write the ideal movie ending to the story with John, it would now be a Hallmark Real ending.

The one where, unbeknownst to me, John has been doing his own personal growth work for the past few years.

The one where he has loved me all along, but like I wanted to believe, he was just too scared to admit it. The one where he has wanted to share his heart with me all these years, but the pain from the past and his unwillingness to previously feel it, kept him from doing so. The one where he has dreamed of me as much as I have dr eamed of him. The one where he wanted to protect me from being hurt, so knowing he wasn’t able to have a healthy relationship, he was unwilling to even have a friendship with me because he cared more about me than himself. The one where the timing finally works out in our favor and when I finish the book and return to Kansas City, he shows up unexpectedly, asks if he can come in, and hugs me (I hug him back just like he taught me). Then he steps back, soaks me in with his eyes not having seen me for so long and sweetly asks if I can go for a ride with him. The one where while he’s driving, he explains everything about what he’s been doing the past few years, how much he’s learned about himself , how he was brave and faced things he never thought he could. And how sorry he is that he couldn’t even talk to me, but he knew if he did , he wouldn’t be able to stay away and it wasn’t safe for me to be with him quite yet, so he had to have the distance to protect me. The one where he pulls up to a small cabin beside a lake and uses the big four-letter word saying “ I love you; I have always loved you. ” The one where he says “I know we’re not ready to live here together yet, but I went ahead and bought this place, so you’d know I’m serious and ready to be a healthy couple. I want this to be our home one day. ” The one where he says “ I want to wake up here and see you singing along to your music in the bathroom while you’re getting ready or walk up behind you while you’re dancing in the kitchen.” The one where he says “ I want to be able to have our grandchildren come over and tell them we MADE our relationship the way it is because we chose each other every day, we were willing to do the work on ourselves and then as a couple, and we had lots and lots of fun. ”

The one where he pulls me close, looks me dead in the eyes and says, “ I love you and I want all your beautiful crazy today and every day. You can count on me; I’m not going anywhere.”

And then I reminded myself life isn’t a movie, and even Hallmark Real endings are hard to come by.

So, I decided what I really want is a GB Real ending and I smiled a GB smile …

“Imagine all of the past versions of yourself standing right in front of you. They are all smiling, looking back at you. They are so proud of you.” Florence Given

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