The Price of Happiness

I don't know what the price of happiness is. All I know is that it keeps going UP!

This divorce is costing me. It's costing me money, and its costing me time, and its costing me my sanity and its costing me my health. I seriously think I'm getting an ulcer over this thing. I mean, who plans on walking in to court not knowing if you're actually going to be heard and granted a divorce THAT DAY?!? Ridiculous.

I swear, sometimes I feel like the gods are toying with me. Why let things happen smoothly when it's so much fun to put up roadblock after roadblock? Truthfully, most days I can zig and zag around these obstacles with the best of them, but today, I'm smashing into each and every one, getting more and more dented with each hit. My pockets are empty and my sense of justice is bruised, and the hits keep on coming. And even though (or perhaps because) I'm in the final stretch of this thing, each outrage is burning a little deeper than the last. Literally. My heartburn is really acting up.

But my mother, my wonderful mother who is always there to lend and ear and a shoulder and some good advice, put things in perspective for me. She said to me, "Would you rather have all that time and money and energy back and still be married to him?" When my answer was a resounding and horrified "NO!!!," she then said to me "Well, then, I guess it's worth the price."

Mom, you're awesome. And you're absolutely right. I'm happy now. For the first time in a long, LONG time, I can say that I'm happy with where I am in my life. I'm grateful for where I live and where I work and what I do, and I'm a MILLION times more grateful for the man I share my life with (not Jericho - although I'm grateful for him to - the other one).

So is it worth the blood, sweat, tears, and cold hard cash I've spent upheaving my life in the pursuit of happiness? Hell YES! I may be broke and exhausted and riddled with gastrointestinal ouchies, but it's still better than where I was a year ago.

The price of happiness may be high, but you know what? Cost be damned, I'd give everything I have to be where I am right now. So ask me, "what's the price of happiness?" and I'll tell you "Never more than it's worth."