Detaching & setting boundaries w/ clingy boomerang

[RegretfulLA]

Hi Mama -
Just wanted to give you some encouragement -

How lucky you are to have so much wonderful family around - even if some are his family. They have become your adopted family over time. I love that. My H has two younger half siblings (they are like 20 years younger than us) and it has really made the family stuff a lot of fun over the years.

And good for you for treating yourself! I have to remember to do that too. I've been so focused on my budget that I'm loath to do anything nice for myself, but this week I bought a blouse and some shoes. Yes, money and things don't buy happiness, but looking good is a confidence booster for sure!

You're also lucky to have a church and a community that you're part of. I'm not religious so that's not much of an option for me, but I envy those who have that nice community. I'm finding that a lot of my empty nester friends are kind of struggling with this. We had our communities mostly through our children and one day that goes away. Even harder when we find ourselves without a partner. I've been thinking a lot about how to find a community and how I want to spend my time so that it counts for something.

It sounds like your nephew's event was a lot. Hard to be in the same space with H but it sounds like you did just fine. I'm sure he was nervous about it too. He seems very conflicted. I think that at some point this will get easier, even if it's hard now.

Keep doing what you are doing, my friend!