A divorce changes you forever, empowers you and strengthens you in ways you may have thought not possible at the time. I originally only wrote this collection for my own catharsis because the pain, insecurities and rage were consuming me, and I knew I had to release those feelings to be able to move on. As friends read them though, they felt that many other women could and would relate and 'feel' a connection to themselves. Their belief was that it would be a voice for their own feelings, pains, insecurities and fears. I hope that it will indeed be a catharsis for many women, and help them to heal, and move on. I'm sharing because you are not alone, many of us have been here, and feel as you do. As I went through it, though I logically knew I wasn't the only one who ever did or ever would go through it, I still felt so alone. The only thing important is that we rise above it, heal, create a new life, and find happiness again. Life will beat you down, but when you stand up again? You become stronger than when you were knocked down. In the worst of times you find your true strength and realize your worth. And so this begins the first part of a journal of my journey through all of this and what followed.