Page 17 - Decemebr final Peek

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Cutest Pet in the Pines Contest
CastlePinesConnection.com
Season of Forgiveness
By Stacie Chadwick
When I was 2 years old my parents got divorced. I was lucky in a way, because
at the time I was too young to understand that separation, at its most basic level, is the physical manifestation of pain being split in two.
By the time I’d turned 5, mom had remarried. Back then, fathers didn’t have the same parenting rights as today, so with a brand-new puppy in my lap, I waved goodbye to my father as my stepdad’s sleek, silver Thunderbird rolled down the driveway, toward an address five states away, and into a new life.
As time went by, pieces of one life became seedlings for another, and when my baby brother was born, my new family was complete. But there was always someone else present who, even though he wasn’t part of this new unit, was still in the mix because he was attached to me – my father.
I wouldn’t say things were perfect between my mother and father, because when bad memories fade, they still leave a scar. But mom always held the door open for visits, and my father never missed an opportunity to take any time with me that she was willing to share.
As years passed and I became increasingly comfortable with my family dynamics, I began to see myself as lucky, even though it wasn’t always easy. I was a Whitten, and everyone else I lived with was a Logan. I sometimes felt like a misfit in the world of seemingly perfect families
on my block, painting a smile on my face when all I wanted to do was cry. But intermingled with the sad was something that no other kid I knew could match. Not only did I have one great dad, I had two, with different but equally important ideas, strengths, influences, opinions, and dreams ... and one huge commonality. They both loved me in a way that only a father can – times two.
Divorce, like life, is complicated. It’s messy and raw, and carefully drawn colors end up bleeding outside the lines. It’s
not easy to forgive. It’s even harder to forget. But in many cases, good can be salvaged from bad. If you can ultimately find happiness in something that at first only brought pain, it’s a gift to yourself that never goes away. Sometimes, with the passage of time, the things that hurt most end up helping us in the end.
By Carin R. Kirkegaard; courtesy photo
The Castle Pines Connection has teamed up with The Pet Stuff Place, Animal Care Center of Castle Pines, Camp Bow Wow – Castle Rock, Lone Tree Veterinary Medical Center, The Last Paws, Fetch! and Bina Photography to bring you the ninth annual Cutest Pet in the Pines contest.
We invite you to share your digitally- captured pet adventures with us. Send in your favorite photo by December 15 for a chance to win great prizes and have your pet featured in the upcoming January issue of The Connection.
The grand prize winner will receive bragging rights, a product-filled gift basket and a $100 gift card to The Pet Stuff Place, along with a complimentary pet photo
shoot and photo from
Bina Photography. Three runners-up will also be selected to each receive
a $50 gift certificate and
pet photography services.
Four honorable mentions
will also receive gift certificates, valued at $25 each.
Photos submitted are selected based on a variety of criteria. Judging is, of course, subjective and we will be soliciting the help of the residents at Legacy Village of Castle Pines to help us select the winners this year.
The deadline to submit photos is December 15. Email pet name and photo to editor@ castlepinesconnection.com.
To read more from Stacie, check out her blog at https://readingbetweenthepines.com.
December 2021
Rocky