WHG: When last we heard from our action hero...

[workinghardguy]

Journaling... boy does 10 hours of sleep make a guy feel better! A good day overall. S slept in late and so did I, even after going to bed at 8:30 last night. W got home last night about 10:30, which was shocking since she was out with her friend.

Got up and did some housework. Being gone all week meant I hadn't done any of things I've agreed to do, and W was having her girl party today, so I took a little time and got caught up. W woke up and was pretty friendly. I kept myself busy with my housework so we couldn't interact much (can't talk over a vacuum cleaner). Mid-morning I packed up S and we went for our day together. I told him last week that we would spend all day Sunday together since I was gone all week, plus it got us out of the house during W's "passion" party.

S and I had a great day. I took him shopping to get a new outfit for church tonight. Then we had lunch at his favorite place (which is NOT McD's thank goodness). Then we played three games of bowling, and after that headed to his favorite park (the weather was great today!). After playing there for a while S and I were cold so we went for some hot chocolate and coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich. The night ended with our evening service where S sang in the all-ages choir. He did so good and took it so seriously He was very proud of himself and so were grandma and me. He was so tired he fell asleep as soon as we hit the highway We had such a great time together... the sitch has definitely made me a better and more patient parent, if nothing else I have to be thankful for that.

A few interesting moments from today... this morning W asked me what time the church service was. W has never asked to go and the one time she thought I was asking her to go (about two months ago) she reacted very, very negatively (and I wasn't asking her to go... she just misunderstood what I said). I told her and she seemed genuinely disappointed that she couldn't go, since she had to be 60 miles the other direction to pick up SS and SD from XH. I realize that this is really about S, but I was shocked that she'd even be willing to show up at church with us.

Another moment came during our brief convo this morning. She told me about her friend she was out with. I know and like her friend, even if her friend has made some poor decisions. One on-going terrible decision is this woman's boyfriend. He's a high school dropout, 15 years her junior, a drug dealer/user, abusive, and just a puke. My W makes the observation that her friend "just can't stand to be alone" and that she keeps telling her she needs to learn to do that before she can ever grow as a woman. I so wanted to challenge my W on her "trying not to fall in love" comment but again kept my mouth shut. She followed that up by observing that she knows it will be hard for her to be alone too, but that it's something she has to do to fix herself. Then she started on a little riff about how she is just so lost, broken, and messed up and that this mess is about that. It's about her needing to figure her own stuff out before she can ever be with anyone again.

Ummm... ok... I validate and then head upstairs to find something to do. Thankfully it was time to leave shortly thereafter.

Anyway, we got home tonight and SS and SD were back. They really liked their gifts and we caught up. W was feeling sick still tonight and went to bed early.

I would characterize today as being a lot like yesterday, with her still trying to draw me in. It's hard to resist and easy to find one's self in the middle of a draw without even noticing. It will be good to get back to work and into the swing of things.