NikkiB's new thread, new life

[NikB]

Thanks all for your replies!! Ok ok, you're all right - it is silly NOT to go see the lawyer especially when it's free. Thanks for helping me get that through my brain. And much's I appreciate you guys I know a lawyer is the best person to answer my money questions. Any other key questions you think I need to ask?? I don't think I'll tell H about it unless he asks directly.

Last night ended up being surprisingly good. I had forgotten it was the anniversary of our engagement until I got home and saw it on the calendar with the big red heart sticker that I decorate our special days with. H originally planned to take the day off to ski with OW and had asked me if it was OK, if you remember that. What a difference 2 weeks can make! Neither of us acknowledged the anniversary at all. I'm not sure if H even noticed it again but I bet he did.

A friend of his came by and they hung out in the garage while I put up Christmas decorations. H came in and said "Wow, it looks like Christmas in here!" He really liked the few different things I did w/the decorating, and then he suggested we go out to dinner. Our last dinners out have been disasters with too much time to talk so I panicked (but it also sounded good and I didn't feel like cooking!). I remembered a little Italian place we've gone with paper table covers and crayons, so we went there. This place is highly recommended for first dates and otherwise awkward dinners out!! Rather than talk we drew silly pictures and played hangman.

When we got home I started to pick out a movie to watch and H grabbed me and said "Nope, we're dancing" and put on our "party music" CD, we danced for a couple songs, and ended up ML. Then H asked if we could plan a New Year's party this year. First time in awhile he's wanted to plan ANYTHING more than a week in advance except for separating. We are known for throwing good parties, but I'm really unsure about inviting a bunch of people over with how quickly life changes around here these days.

He's out racing w/friends today but this morning he asked if I was going Christmas shopping. I said maybe, and he asked me if I'd mind picking out a couple of things for his mom and sister and gave me some cash. He says I'm better at picking out that stuff (and in a normal year I'd do a lot of it anyway). I wasn't sure how to respond - I'll enjoy it, but part of me wants to reply "You want to leave, you can do your own Christmas shopping!" I've had the same fleeting thought about his laundry. The man hasn't done a load of laundry in 11 years!! Probably pretty un-DB not to mention petty though.

I just keep on smiling but I'm so confused.

I have a Christmas gift related question for you guys too - any thoughts? H's memory has always been bad and MUCH worse lately. He really likes going through old pictures to help remember stuff, and we have a TON of them - probably 3 dresser drawers full and totally unorganized. One of my lowish priority "to do" projects has been to sort through, get them organized, etc. I was thinking it might be nice for Christmas to pick out some of the best/funnest ones and make him an album. I'm NOT talking about some romantic album of "look at all the great times we shared," more like parties, camping trips w/friends, family events, etc. If he stays, at least the pictures would be organized and it'd be a nice album for him instead of digging through 100s of pictures. If he goes, it would be something he could take with him to help remember the good times.

Good idea? Bad idea? If I do it, should I totally leave out ANY pictures of us and our vacations together, or maybe just keep it to a minimum? I wouldn't include wedding pics obviously. My gut says a handful of vacation pictures would be fine and it would be kind of weird to leave them out, but I don't want him to feel pressured or anything.

Hope your weekends are all off to a good start!! I'm off to catch up on your threads.