"I read the news today, oh boy"--The Beatles, A Day in the Life.
Glad to hear things are well. Your description of wholeness seems to describe a similar point where I am (and I admit that you helped me get there a bit through your loving detachment). Wholeness may be one description, but the one I use is contentment with who I am and what I am. In many respects, I know myself better than at any other time in my life and I can truly distinguish and appreciate the difference between my personal wants and actual needs. And I've learned I don't need much if I have faith.
On the R side, TKKC1 gave me a book called "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger," a somewhat Christian apologetic based on a cynical businessman's dinner invite from a man claiming to be Jesus. Their dinner discussion ponders reigion and the meaning of life, but one of the more powerful observations I garnered was that perhaps the greatest spiritual need of any human is to feel loved. For an adult, ideally for most, that comes from a spouse. But it comes from other sources as well--most notably the Lord, if we believe. That recognition brings me a lot of peace.
Btw, I also appreciate your thoughts on PL. My online experience has opened some new doors and possibilities that are both exciting, distracting, but also perhaps nothing more than a pipedream to pursue. It's strange to be opening up new doors to possible R's with a much clearer sense of what I'm looking for--but also a keener sense of what can go wrong and a desire to protect my kids from any more instability in their lives. I don't say this as a complaint, but just to note another interesting part of the journey.
