The Cougel Returns. Married. (Married? Married!)

You might wonder what I’m doing back here, blogging again. Last we left off in the summer of 2012, I was riding on the back of a motorcycle with my soon to be husband, in Kansas, where I was meeting my future Christian-laws.

Since then, some momentous stuff has transpired which has technically unqualified me as a Jewish Cougar.

1- I got married.

Which means, no more dating stories. My life finally got more private, and the urge or desire to write about my life ceased, especially since it was no longer “my” life to write about – it was “ours.”

2- I married a Christian.

Which ended my search for a Jewish guy, thereby terminating the “Will Cougel Marry a Jew? (like Mom wants her to)” subplot.

3- I (finally) got over my divorce.

My divorcee status, which at the time proved to be a bottomless well of material, was finally behind me.

But mostly, I had moved on from Cougar status because I had found some hope. And with that, a bit of peace.

So you could say that all of the above zap the intrigue and suspense inherent in the trials and tribulations of a thirty (or forty!) something divorcee (probably the reason why “Sex and The City” ended when Carrie finally married Big). Once the ‘character’ you’re reading about arrives at her goal – whether she knew that to be her goal or not – the story is over.

But, maybe it doesn’t have to be.

Maybe the story – the new story – lies in the shift. In the transition from one stage in life to the next, and the perspective shift that comes with it. Maybe I can now look back on dating, divorced, Cougel, as she navigated her way through NYC’s dating mine field, like other women who went through it or are dealing with those challenges, and shine a spot light on the shadowy parts.

It only recently occurred to me that “Or,” the root of my Hebrew name, means “light.” Maybe it’s time to put it to use.