SOC: Challenged

I've been participating in Stream of Consciousness on and off since I found Fadra a few months ago. At first it was very challenging for me to just dump words onto a page without editing and my posts were never very long. It's as if my fingers and brain would free the second I set the timer. As time went on it got a little easier for me so I was more than a bit disappointed when Fadra announced last week that the linky was ending. I understand her reasons but was still bummed. Now thanks to Jana Stream of Consciousness has a new home and I can't wait to be a part of it.

Here’s the prompt for today: Write about a time that you were challenged.

These last eighteen months have been incredibly challenging for me and our entire family. When we first started this commuter marriage gig we had  NO idea it would be for eighteen months. In fact, I think if we'd really known what we were getting into we wouldn't have done it. Though I doubt the alternative would have been any easier. It was harder than I ever could have imagined to solo parent day in and day out with no end in sight. To try to maintain a marriage across 1231+ miles was frustrating, heartbreaking and difficult. Seeing each other every three months tears a family apart. I know military families live this way while also putting their lives on the line and I have the utmost respect and admiration for them. The stress of trying to sell our house, keep a rood over our heads and maintain our sanity was too much to bear at times. I never thought it would feel this lonely. Never thought it would last this long. When our house finally sold I cried tears of relief and sadness too. Relieved to move on to the next chapter in our lives and sad to be living the life that I thought was our American dream. We've been living under the same roof for six weeks and while it comes with it's own set of challenges I feel whole again.

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post below.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.