315 : No Life is Perfect

I had officially started my search for a new home in the suburbs.  It was only March, and the inventory was still rather low, but I was optimistic the spring market would bring more options.  Yesterday, my mom and I went to go look at 2 houses.  Both of which appeared to have promise in the online listing, but were disappointing in person.  It was hard to prioritize the many things I wanted to achieve in this one purchase.  A yard.  A basement.  More SPACE!  Location.  All of which were important, yet there limitations with my budget.  We went to brunch after house #2 and as I sat down, I began to express my discouragement to my mom.  Her head went to the most natural place it could and she expressed how much more I could get for my money were I to move back to Michigan.  The statement was true, and we both knew it.  And there would be many advantages of that move.  I'd have my parents nearby.  The schools were excellent.  My sister and her family would be close by as well.  My boys could grow up alongside their cousins.  But that option wasn't perfect either.  There were no jobs in Michigan.  I had a great job full of opportunity here in Chicago.  Plus the arrangement with my Ex was my easier with us both living in the same state.  Selfishly, I didn't want to give up my free time every other weekend to drive halfway to meet my Ex so we could exchange our kids.  And I didn't want that for my kids, either.  So what was I to do?  It was then that my mom made one simple statement that helped bring me back to a centered place.

There is no perfect life.  Life is what you make of it.

She then went on to tell me that she was proud of me and how I was choosing to live my life. Hearing this made me tear up slightly, knowing everything she was saying was true.  I had decided long ago, I would chose to be the heroine in my life, not the victim.  Everything had happened for a reason in the last year.  Every choice and decision was guiding me to exactly where I was supposed to be.  I was fortunate in that I didn't have to know right at this moment where I was going to be next.  I could continue to take my time to look for a place and hopefully the right spot would become available.  No life was perfect, but despite everything I had been through in the past year, my life was still pretty good.  In fact, my life was great.