“I was your typical Midwestern girl, prom queen and homecoming court in high school, had the best time in college with friends to last a lifetime and after graduation got my first job and began life in the big city. As I worked through my 20's, I was single and fancy free and independent. I watched as most of my friends married and realized the clock was ticking for myself and just as they say when you least expect it you will find your perfect mate. Married at 30 with my first child following shortly thereafter. We fell into the typical married couple with a young child routine, and I wanted to be the perfect wife with the Pottery Barn catalog home and lifestyle. Everything we did revolved around first my husband and then my son and a few years later my daughter. I thought if I kept them all first, we would all be happy and survive.
Little did I know that my world was really crumbling all around me. I lost touch with all of my close girlfriends from high school and college, my family relationships with my siblings and parents took a backseat, and I completely lost who I was. My husband and I drifted apart, and we all fell into this terrible monotonous routine. In May of 2014, my world imploded on that Monday after my son's 8th birthday. My husband was not the man I thought he was and enough was enough. I called my oldest brother (my hero) and without a question, he dropped everything and drove 2 hours to my house to help me start to rebuild my life.
From that day forward it was time to be the person I was supposed to be and not be afraid anymore. In the last two years I have done some amazing things...filed for divorce, sold my home, moved myself and two kids into my best friend of 39 years basement to pay off all of my debt, moved into our own townhome, working full time managing a team of great people, balancing the day to day of very active kids that are both involved in hockey (people in MN are crazy about their hockey), football, baseball and soccer. Early on in the divorce there was a lot of stress with my ex husband and his choices and making sure the kids were not suffering due to his depression. When I look back on all of that, I can now smile as all of these things have made me the strongest person I have become today. I always knew I was a pretty tough chick, but these past two years were beyond even what I could have imagined. Today, my ex husband and I are on great terms working together for our kids, I have eliminated toxic relationships with some who I thought were my best friends and have renewed all of my relationships with family and friends.
I chose to honor myself with the Fred and Far ring, as to me it symbolized that I will NEVER forget where I came from and to never let myself be put in the back seat ever again. I need to show my kids what a strong person is and how if you put your mind to it anything is possible. This past week I have just came back from an amazing trip with a couple of my college friends to Cozumel. Two months ago we decided that for the first time in our lives we are going to put ourselves first and take some time to relax and refresh so that we can come home to be the most amazing women!!
Thank you for letting me share my story and for making this amazing ring as a daily reminder to myself.”
- Jodi