A New Life for Mrs. Darling

I think most women are like me. We go through life always looking forward, not back. One day, we say to ourselves, our dreams are going to come true. When I marry Mr. Right. When the kids grow up and leave home. When I get that perfect job. When I win the Lottery (I wish!)

I was always like that, but when I reached the big 50, I thought - at long last - those elusive dreams were finally within my grasp. I had it all, didn´t I? A successful, loving husband. A beautiful home. A high-flying daughter who was more than capable of managing her own life. Enough money in the pot to take early retirement from my own stressful career. What more could anybody ask?

And then the day arrived when everything went wrong. The day when my loving husband died, and I found out that I had been living a lie. That nothing at all in my life had been what I thought it had. And that everybody knew it. Everybody, except me.

And that was the day when I stopped dreaming, and started living. The day when I realized that my past life had been nothing but illusions. The terrible day when I went from having it all to having nothing at all. Not even my memories.

So I did what most of us would do; I ran away. And that was when I found where my future really was, if only I dared to grasp it. If only I could truly believe that somebody still wanted me. If only I could have the faith to trust that this was no mere holiday romance with a man young enough to be my son, but the real thing.

Did I dare to grasp the happiness that fate offered me? To take the risk? What do you think? What would you have done, in my place?

Wish me happiness, for you and I both deserve it.