A year of unexpected change

A year ago, I wasn't looking for this. I wasn't looking for anything, really. I was content with my adventures - the sea spray on my face, the rush of air beneath me, the freedom of charting my own course. Single, independent, and perfectly happy with that.

Then everything shifted.

A year down the line and I'm engaged to be married! The woman who once found her thrills in the ocean and the sky now spends her evenings watching films or listening to music, threading beads into bracelets and hanging out with the most brilliant and funny human. It sounds like a different person's life, doesn't it? Some days, I can hardly believe it myself.

Not everyone has come along for the ride. Some friends have walked beside me through every twist and turn, celebrating the changes and embracing this new version of me. Others have drifted away, and whilst that's been difficult, I've come to understand that not everyone is meant to journey with us through every chapter. It's been one of the hardest lessons this year has taught me.

There's been plenty of soul searching, questioning who I am now, whether I was losing parts of myself or simply discovering new ones. The truth is, it's been both. I've had to dig deep, to reconcile the adventurer I was with the person I'm becoming. It hasn't always been easy, but it's always been worth it.

What I've realised it that this IS an adventure. It's just a different kind. The excitement I once found in adrenaline and exploration, I now find in building a life with someone I love. In discovering new passions. In creating something that's entirely ours.

I'm happy. Genuinely, deeply happy. Content in a way I never expected to be, living a life I never saw coming. And whilst there are undoubtedly more challenges ahead, more soul searching to do, I'm ready for it.

This is my new story, my new adventure. And I can't wait to see where it takes me.

By

Maggie Martin 

Still Wild at Heart ❤️ 

I Waited

 I Waited...

I stayed single, 

until I knew the difference

between attention that sparkled and faded

and affection that stayed when the screen went dark.

I waited until I no longer needed

someone else's words

to prove I was worthy.

I already was.

The love I gave my children,

the strength it took to rise each morning,

the peace I was building brick by brick

that was my proof.

I stayed single

until my life felt full

in the quiet moments,

until my home held laughter,

my weekends held joy,

my heart held calm.

I didn't wait for rescue.

I became my own arriving.

I stayed single

until the wounds had closed,

until I could speak of the past

without bleeding,

without bitterness,

without needing to convince myself

it wasn't that bad.

I waited until my boundaries

were not walls, but gates

ones I opened and closed

without guilt,

without fear,

without hesitation

when someone forgot

I was sacred.

I stayed single

until my children saw me

choosing peace over chaos,

teaching them by living it,

what love looks like,

what it feels like,

what they should never settle for.

I waited for the steady kind.

The kind that doesn't compete

with my peace,

but protects it.

The kind that feels like calm,

like safety,

like coming home

to a home I'd already built.

When that love came,

it didn't complete me

I was already whole.

It simply walked beside me,

steady and sure,

into the life I'd created

whilst I was brave enough

to wait.