Walking Away

Walking Away
Writer's Post #17

My career was who I was for many years.  When I introduced myself to someone I would usually say, "Hi, I'm Jo Heroux.  I'm a hairdresser."  So my name is most important, but the very next thing was what I do.  Odd, because it wasn't really the most important thing to me.  I just thought it was the most important thing to the people I was meeting.  It wasn't.  I know that now.

I walked away from my career and I have no regrets.  It was the right time and the right thing for me and everyone else involved.  

So, since I walked away from who I was, who am I now?



I am a daughter.  Been that my entire life.  I was raised with a lot of love and understanding.  My parents were loving and fun.  They had time for me, well, Mom did.  Dad worked a lot and wasn't home as much as she was, but he made time for us when he could.  I was the baby of three and I liked being the youngest.  I know that being the first born is special and I know that that sometimes is considered the favorite position in the birth order books.  I can see why that might be true.  I can see why first borns often think they carry more responsibility and maybe they do.  In our family the second born is the first (and only) boy child.  Those who study birth order say this is the same special spot as the first born in many ways.  The first boy is often treated with some royalty regardless of his actual order.  My sister and I dubbed our brother The Prince and I guess he will always be just that.  He is the only one who carries our family name.  The baby, me, is always the baby.  In our family it has taken me 6 decades to establish myself as a real adult.  Both my siblings are smart and successful people.  They have both raised wonderful girls into womanhood.  I have respect for each of them for their individual accomplishments and I love them both as people besides being my brother and sister.  My sister lives relatively nearby and she would be my friend even if we weren't related, I am sure of that.  My brother has lived hours away for many years and we aren't in contact nearly as often as we should be.  Moving away leads to living in different worlds, sometimes.  I still enjoy visiting with him when he is here and I still look forward to seeing him. We love each other, we just aren't on the same page very often.  Not walking away from my siblings.

I am an adult now.  I have succeeded in raising my son and my daughter into adulthood.  I am the grandmother to their perfectly perfect children.  I inherited 2 boys when I married Mike and they have given me 3 more grand daughters, another something is due in November.  I am happy in this place.  I have the life I have worked toward for most of my adult years.  I'm not rich and I'm not famous, but I'm not dead so either of those could still happen!  :)  Not walking away from these jobs nor these possibilities.


I am a friend.  My best friend and I have been together for 34 years and I cannot imagine not having her with me for the good and the bad.  She is the shoulder and she is also the sunshine.  Love my Shirley.  Not walking away from her.



I am a wife. Twenty-nine years and counting, we have shared our days, nights, children and parents, siblings and friends.  We have shared our lives for better or worse, more betters than worses.  We have sorrow and joy and again more joy than sorrow.  We have nearly called it quits more than once and found a way to stay together.  We have found a way to still be in love and still be best friends. At this age and at this point, not walking away from him.

Apparently, I am not very good at the walking away thing.  I am much more into sticking it out and making changes to make things better or if that can't be done, learning to accept what is.  



What I will walk  away from-every time-is anyone who just causes drama and stress in my life.  People who plug into me and proceed to just drain all my energy until I am just useless.  People who cannot make good decisions and then cannot figure out why everything goes badly for them.  People who constantly look for change in their lives by doing exactly the same thing over and over and over!  Stupid people aren't going to stay in my life very long because I am required to remind them of their stupidity.  I can't help myself.  I don't really want to either.  From these, I will walk away and not look back.


I did walk away from what I did...I won't walk away from who I have become.

Jo