Glad to hear that you are safe from the cyclone. I keep wondering if there is more strange weather around the world or if we're just hearing about it more when it happens because of the information explosion over the past 20-30 years.
I'm glad that your new job came at a good time to keep you busy and that your D is keeping her (and you) busy with her swimming. I think that girls have a hard time when their fathers do something like this. My niece was 11 when her father filed for D from my sister. They had been having conflict for years and my sister wasn't the easiest person to live with (she has mellowed a LOT since then) so he was not a WAS, but his personality certainly changed when he reached mid-life. My niece spent years trying to connect with him but he just didn't connect emotionally with her. I don't think he was/is capable of it. This pursuer/distancer dance has really affected her Rs with men as an adult. She keeps wanting to M every man she dates. She's on fiance #3 now and she's in her mid-20s.
I hesitated to post this ^^^^^^^ to you. I am sure that you have been doing your best to make your D feel secure. Please feel free to come here and vent or vent to your RL friends. When I was growing up, my mother told me several times "Don't ever marry a man like your father". That's a really horrible thing to say to a girl, even if it's not said verbally. It wasn't until after my first D (in my 20s) that I read John Bradshaw's book "Bradshaw on the Family" and gained much insight into my family's dynamics. That book changed my life!!!!!!!!! I mean that in all sincerity. It turned my perspectives around about 180�. I'm forever grateful to him for writing it.
