Well, GP and I had a minor tiff last night and the interesting thing to me about it was my "new" natural reaction to experiencing disappointment or dysfunction in relation to a man. The reaction I had to GP's behavior last night was pretty much the same reaction I had to a couple of instances of behavior I didn't appreciate from NG. Although, obviously, it isn't clear in an adult relationship who is who, let's say for the sake of my analogy that I am the dog owner and the man is the dog. When I was married to PAL my natural reaction was to take it personally when the dog misbehaved and cry or try to accomplish my powerwalk of life or enjoy a fun outing while dragging the dead snarly weight of the dog about or try to "get tough" in opposition to my usually wimpy nature and "train" the dog etc. and finally I just gave up and decided to drop the d*mn dog off at the pound. Anyways, nowadays I find myself not exactly doing what HJNTIY suggests and saying "NEXT!" which to my mind is just the equivalent of taking the dog back to the pound sooner rather than later. Instead, I find myself almost reflexively simply dropping the leash. It's not that I'm walking away from the dog, I'm just making it absolutely clear that the dog is free to walk away from me. I smile and say most courteously "Go on now, have your fun, you aren't tied to me. I'm just going to lie here on the park bench and take a little beauty nap in the sun. In fact, if you are feeling the urge to whine or cr*p, I would greatly prefer that you did it at a distance. So scoot along."
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver
