Good Riddance (The time of your life....)

This is one of my favorite songs.  I discovered it, oddly enough, during the last couple of episodes of Seinfeld, when they did a music montage of clips from the seasons of the show, bloopers and behind the scenes.  Lyrics are as follows:

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It seems odd to base your life on a GreenDay song, but this one is utterly apropos.  Life: it is what it is. Take it for what it's worth, nothing more, nothing less, learn your lesson and move on.  This is how I will approach 2009, going into 2010.  I learned lessons about trust, and who not to. I learned that forever isn't always forever, and no one means what they say and says what they mean all the time. Life is unpredictable and with just a few words, everything that you think you know can change. "I want a divorce."  "I'm pregnant."  "I have a gay lover named Manny." (only the first of those applied to my situation, mind you....) 

"It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right. I hope you had the time of your life...."  I can fully agree with the first part: the divorce was unpredictable. Even though it was thrown up in each others faces on a regular basis, I never thought we would go through with it. But here we are. In the end, it IS right. I knew that 9 months ago. But I couldn't admit it. I couldn't imagine that I would be sitting here, typing these words nonchalantly referring to the dissolution of my decade long marriage to the man that was supposed to be my soul mate. But I don't think I had the time of my life, at least not ala Baby & Johnny.  I have good memories, towards the beginning but I still maintain I should have never let him come home five years ago when we separated. But I was broke. And that is the God's honest truth: broke and close to finishing my undergrad degree. Sure, I'd be well over it all by now. But I see those last five years as character building, making me into the person I have become.  Those last five years gave me guidelines and goals, things I know I want, and Don't want, for that matter.... My life is great. It's going to be even better. I'm having the time of my life now. And in the years to come. I fully believe that. Sure things are hard at times. Money is the worst! But as Gloria Gaynor so eloquently put it, I will survive!!!! And not only will I survive, I'll do it with a little grace, a lot of laughs, and the most eclectic group of amazing friends you can imagine! At the fork, I took the road less traveled: the road that wasn't easy and wasn't mapped out.  My life is unpredictable at best, and that scares the shit out of me.  But one day I will look back over another ten years gone by and I will think, "Wow! I had the time of my life!!!" And for what's it's worth, it was worth all the while........