Day in and day out

You see that?

Look there in the background of this picture.

That's Mark and Ethan sitting side by side having a nice moment. Maybe talking about the Cubbies or school coming up or who knows....

And I love it. I am so grateful for it.

Because we've had a seriously hard year. We've been through the troubled waters of teenage heartbreak, questions of faith, burst of anger and hours of talking talking talking to try to understand each other.

We've had cold silence and afternoons of crying on a shoulder....any shoulder.

It has been crazy hard and we have fought with him and for him every day.

We have learned to listen better and apologize for our mistakes.

We've learned to focus on the good and let the little things go.

We've learned to forgive and allow each other to move on and be the person they want to be without hanging on to all of our little (and big) mistakes.

And most of all we have learned that our children are their own people. They are going to lead and choose their own lives and they will do that with or without our love, help or participation.

But we prefer that they have all of those things.

So, yes, we have had a hard year and we have changed the way we see our roles as parents. But I look at that picture and I see that Ethan is doing well. He's here with us and smiling and I love him. I love Mark and I am so happy we are on the other side of this.

I don't doubt that there are hard things to come, but I know that we can figure it out and if nothing else survives, our love for each other will.