Getting back

I keep saying that I will return to my daily blogging habit. One year I made it my New Year's resolution, and that worked pretty well. I just have to start doing it.

To this point, I've not blogged much about Jack. Because his situation is still "pending," he had asked me not to blog about us, so I respected that, but he just told me it's ok now, so.. here I am!

It's time for the world to know what's really going on in my life. Back when the people in our park in Tucson thought that Jack and I were having an affair, we were not. We were great friends and we did lots of fun things together -- hiking, bicycling, sharing meals, working and laughing together.

But in some important ways, things are different now. At the beginning of July, he filed for divorce. He decided that he wants and needs a joy in his life that had been missing for a long time. And, so far, that joy includes me!

While Jack is still in Michigan and I'm still in Indiana, we have managed to be close. We talk on the phone a few times a day. He's been to Bloomington to visit, during one of those weeks when I did not blog ;). And, following my trip to see the kids last week, I drove on up to Big Rapids to see him.

While I was up there, we did lots of things, starting with the Menard's Contractors' Luncheon and ending with a beautiful evening at the Blue Cow -- a pretty and wonderful new restaurant downtown. In between, we babysat for Linda's dog Libby, taking her on daily walks with Maddy, cleaned up trash that she'd strewn all over the living room, and mused about where the snacks were that we had left on the counter. Libby's a good dog, but.. very much a dog!

We put in ballasts and bulbs in Pete's law office building, succeeding in getting all the fixtures working. We spent a whole day working at ArtWorks, a venue for local artists to display and sell their work. We rode our bikes up to Reed City, logging for me a PB of 31 miles!

Jack knows everyone in Big Rapids, or nearly everyone, and he introduced me to many of them. Everyone was excited to meet me and was genuinely happy for both of us -- just as it was for us here. People who really know Jack and his situation understand. We got many hugs and back-slaps and the week was hugely enjoyable for us. The fear that we would not be accepted as a couple just yet was unfounded.

The only exception to this is a couple of the people we know from Far Horizons. I don't think that they know Jack well, are trying to maintain a relationship with his soon-to-be-ex, still think of me as an interloper, and so they're not yet wishing us well. I guess Jack and I both care about what other people think, but not when they're wrong, and certainly not enough to change our own lives.

So things are very exciting right now. I'm working still on my house, and I have had good help with that. Right now, the place is being painted, floors are getting cleaned, and I'm getting set to have the property appraised.