ReBorn

Chapter 1-2

After all, as a couple Mignon and Gerald had led a very lavish and extravagant lifestyle. Without a doubt, she fully expected him to continue to support her and the children as he had when they were married. Over the years, Mignon had become as accustomed to luxury as she had to abuse. Logically, she didn’t expect the end of physical abuse to also be the end of the lifestyle that both she and Gerald had worked together to attain and that their children had been born into.

Although alimony and child support would be helpful, Mignon fully expected to work in order to maintain an acceptable level of comfort with the increased cost of living in L.A. However, a shift in lifestyle was well worth her peace of mind and the lack of drama was more than worth scaling down. After making the decision to retain a lawyer and file for divorce, Mignon immediately began to update her portfolio with plans to research commercial interior-design firms in L.A., in pursuit of consulting opportunities.

In Chicago, she had developed a reputation and a lucrative career designing the interiors of upscale restaurants and nightclubs. She looked forward to utilizing and leveraging her portfolio to do the same in Los Angeles.

Next, she found a realtor to assist her in finding a home in a nice community. More than anything, she desired a smooth transition for the kids to help them to adjust to living on the West Coast, thousands of miles away from their father. Mignon had all of her ducks in order and was proceeding according to plan. When she’d left Gerald, she had followed the advice of a friend and taken some of their belongings, putting the remainder in storage. She had expected to return to her home, if for no other reason than to settle on a division of property.

Intent on maintaining civility in her dealings with Gerald, Mignon hoped to create a new rapport that would allow him to be comfortable in a continuing relationship with the children. She was so set on her focus to get through what she so naively perceived as her “valley”, that it never occurred to her that she hadn’t reached the valley yet. In the scheme of things, she was on a slight decline that would eventually unexpectedly slope downward and cause her to stumble and fall on her knees in the valley.

Mignon wholeheartedly believed that Gerald, the father of their children, would provide both emotional and financial support for his own flesh and blood. However, that was not to be the case; in fact, she had to make adjustments as a single parent and downscale to a much more modest lifestyle. In less than the blink of an eye, not only had she become another single mother but her children had become statistics simply because she had chosen to end the charade people called marriage.

So instead of wallowing in disappointment, instead of wallowing in hate, instead of wallowing in Oh Lord, why me, she recalled the stories of her grandmother Carrie as she faced the infidelities of her own husband, Logan. She thought of her mother, Ana, as she made the decision to give birth to Mignon and then later to raise her alone. She remembered the lessons of her beloved Uncle Eddie that weren’t chronicled in the journal, but should have been. The lessons he taught her were the ones she had the greatest regret in pushing aside: how to take chances. . . be bold. . . live life to its fullest, never fearing the outcome. Even when she was a teenager and he’d chaperoned her around parts of Europe and observed her at times seeking acceptance from the wrong crowd, he had instructed her. “Noni, you got to believe in yourself. . . . Everything you will ever need is already in you. That’s why you don’t need to check with another Cat to see where you’re at or what you should do. The biggest mistake you can ever make is asking someone what you should do. If you do, eventually you’ll face defeat through bad advice—whether ill-intended or not. Your defeats will act like a magnet, drawing you to situations where your loss drains you until you stop trying. Then you’ll be left wide open to face the worse possible fate. . . death. But not the death that you think—this is the one that takes your spirit and claims your soul, then lets you live. . . . Only you never know you’re really dead. It’s that Cat’s entertainment: a parade of zombies going through the movements, walking toward him. . . ole Mr. Death. The sad part is that because they don’t know they’re dead, they’re looking forward to their physical end. These are the people looking for a diversion while they are living and breathing as an escape from their unhappiness. Like those junkies on Hollywood Boulevard seeking a fix. Man, the crazy part is, they could have changed their lives and found happiness in themselves.”

It was only recently that she’d realized she had been among the living dead. Then she recalled God’s intercession as He made ways and opened doors, pouring her out a blessing greater than her mind could conceive or her heart could hold. Instead of wallowing, Mignon started stepping…tentatively at first, like treading across thin ice on a frozen lake. But like the winter fisherman, she ceased being fearful of the density of the ice and began taking steps based on faith . . . not fact.

Her first step of faith had come when she took all of her savings and invested every cent along with a business loan to open a quaint coffee lounge at the base of Fox Hills. At the time it was the most frightening step she had taken…even more so than walking away from her marriage and the comfort that it offered.