Everwhere is walking distance if you have the time

[ClingingToHope]

Yes. The red flags are there. I'm trying to think of things from her position. She's obviously been unlucky in love, and I think she's looking for reasons not to trust me.

With good reason. You can see I'm ambivalent.

I get that.

My plan at this point is to live life as is. When I'm free, see if she's free. My friends like her. She fits in in this arrangement.

If she pushes for more -- like pushing me to announce to XW that we are dating -- and I'm not ready for it then I won't do it. This is all I have to give right now.

The kid thing is interesting. Her son is 14 and stuck in a small house with an aunt, an uncle, a mom and four nieces and nephews.

That would drive me up a wall if I were him.

Plus, I believe at 14 the child can choose who he wants to live with.

Still, it's another red flag.

I am formulating a pretty good plan on the school costs. It's a mix of using the money from the divorce and money from my 401(k) to pay for it.

I have to not chicken out. I'm ensuring I won't by already telling my daughters I'm going back to college. They will bug me if I don't follow through.

I'm launching another ambitious project at work though to keep myself mentally occupied and it caused me to go digging through old boxes looking for my athletic stats from high school.

I didn't find them, but I did find photos from my wedding. Small pity party for a couple of minutes, then some nice memories because it was good to see how beautiful XW was when we got married.

I'm biased of course. D12 lately is addicted to "Say Yes to the Dress" and she bugs me to watch. Hey, it's better than "Toddlers & Tiaras." Those parents should be jailed for child abuse. I digress, watching the wedding dress show I still haven't seen anyone as pretty as XW on our wedding day.