Living Away: A Mother's Story of Letting Go

"As the plane slowly climbed into the deep blue Colorado sky, I couldn't stop the tears any longer and thought ... what have I done to these kids?" This story is about my life twelve hundred miles from my two boys who chose to stay with their father instead of living with me, while I am living with a new husband in Colorado. The four year period of living apart from my boys was surprisingly easy for them, and intensely painful for me. I worked through the loss like a death, yet when I visited them, it was as if nothing had changed at all. My story is similar to others untold. As divorce numbers grow, so do moveaways like mine. Unlike other moveaways, I decided to ask the boys to choose their life, and abide by their decision instead of dragging them through a courtroom. By letting go of them, I was able to find myself.