This week’s story is a little different from the others. But while it might lack laughs, it should make you feel good all the same.

Jennifer and I have been BFFs for 20 years. She is every bit as beautiful, talented and intelligent as she is tall, blonde and hilarious. A nationally recognized educator, she married a handsome and successful man and had one baby boy after another, leaving her career to raise her family.

From the outside, Jennifer’s life was bursting with perfection. A husband, three sons, two dogs and a luxury SUV in a fabulous historic home in Chicago, complete with a welcoming front porch and picket fence.

On the inside, however, things were far from perfect.

Their oldest son was diagnosed with autism. And that handsome husband slowly evolved into a raging alcoholic. Jennifer did everything she could to keep the peace, but just weeks after their third child was born, her husband’s alcoholism reared its undeniably ugly head, forcing Jennifer to make the life-altering decision to leave this seemingly perfect life and forge onward to a new one alone with her three young sons.

That was just the beginning. Her husband, armed with a bottomless back account, dragged their divorce out over three years, sending Jennifer into financial ruin.

But most shattering of all during that time, her youngest two boys were both diagnosed with autism, just like their big brother.

During those three years Jennifer fought an exhausting battle in court and began a lifelong battle against autism with strength that could move mountains. And she did it all alone.

Alone for every setback and celebration, she often wondered if that was how her life would always be. She dated many nice men who quickly and awkwardly backed out after learning about her sons’ autism, but as gentle as they tried to be, the reality of being a single mother with three special needs sons was a consistent and cruel slap in her face.

And then Jennifer met Rich.

Rich, a single father of four, was not intimidated by autism. Quite the contrary, Rich saw the unique beauty of Jennifer’s boys just as clearly as he saw the dazzling light inside of Jennifer.

He and his four children effortlessly fell in love with Jennifer and her boys. And this group somehow decided to form a family, outnumbering the Brady Bunch by one child and one dog.

Crazy and chaotic? Absolutely. Are they nervous? Of course they are.

But more than that, they are excited to face the future together, a future that will begin this Saturday when Jennifer and Rich walk down the aisle and bravely commit to loving each other as husband and wife.

So when a world too often filled with disappointment brings you down, I hope you will remember this story. Love can be found and joy can flourish in a heart that once held unspeakable ache, and these are the things that help make this world a happier place.