Dating After 40: Do Any of Us Really Know What We Are Doing?

It's been ages since our last post. I'm not sure that anyone even checks in here anymore. At any rate if you're curious..... Jules married the fisherman this fall! They had a gorgeous wedding and are happily moving forward in their new life. Gwyn recently eloped with the most amazing boyfriend ever (now husband - it was a guy she met right about the time she dropped off the blog) and she's got a bun in the oven now! Yep hitched and barefoot and pregnant. And deliriously happy. As for me, Miranda, the one most yearning for the happy ending, well I'm still working on it. Peabody and I had a very surprising and hard break up in late spring. I spent the summer very depressed, attempting to move on and briefly dating a friend of his. In the late summer we reconnected and he asked for a second chance. After much discussion, I agreed to give him one. The summer without him was truly awful. There were a lot of dark days but it was also very much a time of needed growt...

Earlier I was thinking about Duckie and what a dipshit he is. Note, recently we battled over child support because his pay has increased and mine has remained flat the last few years and he didn’t deserve (according to state guidelines) what he wanted. Yes, I pay him child support (and I just finished three years of alimony) all because he is a slacker who was content to sit back and work low end jobs and never try to improve his career until I left him. Note again – I won the child support disagreement by the way.  I digress. Anyways I was thinking about that whole situation and for some reason started to reflect on my decision to leave him. I can remember after I first told him we had a problem and I didn’t have any feelings towards him anymore. I spent much of the next six weeks wading through my grief over my dad’s suicide and mulling over what exactly I WAS feeling.  I can remember creeping around the idea of divorce. Grieving for the idea of the kids having t...

Ever had a moment that stopped you in your tracks and you just knew it was what you’d always dreamed about, that you were in exactly the right place at the right time?  I’ve had more than a few of those with Peabody and another really great one last night. He asked me to come over for dinner and we were just hanging out at his house. He was grilling and we were drinking wine listening to some of our favorite music.  We talked all through dinner and cleaning up and ended up sitting in his living room laughing and talking for another hour while we reminisced over our recent amazing trip to Hawaii.  His favorite book is On the Road by Jack Kerouac.  He’s been after me to read it and I just haven’t had time yet.  Peabody told me he had something different for us to do and asked me if I’d ever listened to a book on tape. I told him I hadn’t and he said he’d been planning to read the book to me (omg read the book to me!!  My inner nerd is still doing a ...

Tomorrow Peabody and I leave for our Hawaiian adventure and I can’t believe it’s finally here!  I am so excited to get back to Hawaii and see the girls and meet each other’s menfolk.  It’s so random and crazy that after a wild three years we are all seemingly settled down and happy at the same time.  Our trip is two-fold. Half the time we will be on Oahu with the girls and half the time we will be hiking/camping along the Napali coast on Kauai. I cannot freaking wait for either part!  I’ve camped quite a bit with Peabody now but this is going to be true ultralight backpacking over some rough terrain. I’m both excited and terrified and I think this trip is going to be a very significant moment in mine and Peabody’s relationship. I’ve gotten the outdoors life down pat for the most part.  I’m not worried about being away from a shower for four days or not being able to truly wash my hair. I’m not worried about wearing dirty, sweaty clothes more than once ...

An off topic post per the norm around here but I’m a nerd and I’m excited.  I work on the administrative side of a health care organization. One of my co-workers has been touting the benefits of standing at work for several months now. Ever since I heard his presentation I’ve been obsessed with the idea of creating a stand up desk and a couple weeks ago I finally did it. After researching and talking to some other staff members who are making the transition I found this “ life hack” and a way to create an inexpensive stand up desk.  I made a weekend trip to my local Ikea before Christmas and Peabody came up to my office one day and helped me put it all together and I freaking love it!  I’ve been standing for almost three weeks now and it’s changed my work life totally. I don’t get that mid afternoon slump where you’re fighting sleep, I focus more when I’m working, I have a million times better posture, and the few aches and pains I’d have after sitting all day ...

Life has been busy busy busy!  Peabody and I are just swimming along magnificently.  We had a great Christmas together and he loved his gifts. He totally surprised me with a Patagonia fleece pullover and a bunch of stuff for camping that I needed.  Funnily enough we both bought each other the exact same hard to find CD.  We had quite a laugh over that. New Years we spent in the mountains of NC.  We explored some of his old stomping grounds and met up with one of mine and Gwyn’s friends and spent some time with her and her family.  We also took a detour to Hot Springs. It’s this tiny rustic town with a spa where you sit in private hot tubs facing the French Broad River and lounge around in the mineral water.  I don’t know about its restorative properties but it was an incredibly romantic moment in our relationship.  The blue sky, the gushing river, steam tendrils coming off the bubbling water in the FRIGID air.  It was about as perfect o...

Me and Peabody are going to Hawaii in less than a month! We've been kicking around the idea for a while and between work and kids we weren't sure we could pull off a joint trip. I mean I planned to go regardless of if he could go or not lol but I was hoping he could work it out. And he did! We will be with the girls the first two weeks of February and we are going to spend time there and hop to Kauai to spend a few days hiking and camping.  He is over the moon excited about going and I cannot wait to have all my favorite people in my favorite place in the world! I can't wait for the girls to meet him! Miranda