The one-year anniversary of my divorce has come and gone, and I almost didn’t notice.

That’s a good thing, the almost not noticing. It means that I have traveled a good, long distance from then and am more actually living now. It means that although I would still describe my heart as broken, broken-hearted is no longer my primary emotion. I no longer wake each morning with a distinct ache in my core. In fact, many mornings I wake enthralled, and happy to be concocting a new life. I’m not exuberant every morning mind you, but it does happen; this is a 180° change from one year ago.

There have been several turning points, several eye-openers, several major shifts. I need to spend a little time and consciously reflect on those, and give a some respect to the highlights that have helped me heal. In the meantime, I am happy just to note that January 19, 2011 occurred rather peacefully, unlike January 19, a year ago. Yay me!

Photo: skating ang or tina by Tina Marie Neal-Martisauskas and used with Creative Commons license.

Usually there’s not much to be gained by denying or trying to avoid pain. So this Etsy Treasury is about embracing the pain by choosing our own representation of it—pretties to symbolize pain, without actually hurting. And even a little full-on humour.