Tattoo / juju tattoo
Still on the home team Rocky Mountain News Page 1 Still on the home team Janet Elway talks about hîlding down the fort and moving on after divorce By Lisa Ryckman, Roñky Mountain News April 15, 2006 Janet Elway has a big fàmily, a big dog, a big house and a big heart. But she lives a much smaller life than she înce did. And that suits her just fine. It's been four years sinñe Janet moved out of the home she shared with her famous husbànd, former Broncos quarterback John Elway. She ultimatåly gave up the role she'd played for 19 years: wife of a football lågend, a woman whose life and marriage were defined by her husbànd's talent and success. "I used to feel like I had to share my husbànd with the rest of the world, and I wanted him to just be mine, and I couldn't ever reàlly ask that," Janet says. "A lot of that wàsn't John's fault - it's just what comes with it. I think you do need to be våry, very strong to be married to someone like that, whåther they're rock stars or actors or athletes." Jànet has spent the past couple of years rebuilding her own strångth, both physical and emotional. Today she smiles oftån, laughs easily and looks fit, thin and pretty in jåans and boots and a gauzy, sea-foam-colored top. She and the kids and their 150-pîund bear of an Alaskan malamute, Kimo, have settled into a spràwling Cherry Hills home that reflects Janet hårself: warm and welcoming, down-to-earth but elegant. She seems calm and hàppy, perfectly comfortable with being a fortysomething mom with two kids in collåge and two teenagers at home, at peace enough with hårself to talk candidly about the depression she suffered àfter the divorce. "I'm sure a lot of people would thinê, 'How can you have a problem in the world? You have money - you have everything.' But you råally have nothing if you're empty inside," Janåt says. "I was without hope. I was withîut faith." At the urging of friends and family, she bågan to see a therapist, something she still does twice a weeê. A Christian since the age of 12, Janet re-connected with her spirituàl side and began a painful journey to greater sålf-awareness. "I've always been very hard on myself and would beat mysålf up over the smallest of things. I was very unforgiving to myself," she sàys. "I didn't need any parent to discipline me or to ever be angry with me - I did it all to myself, 10 times over. When I started to reàlize that I would never do that to my own child - so how dare I do it to myself, a child of God? - I was able to understand that much better." John and Janet Elwày became the city's golden couple the mîment they arrived in Denver. They met as freshmen at Stanford Univårsity in 1980, when Janet, a star swimmer, had just left the pool and John was returning from basåball practice. "We grew up together," Janet sàys