Catch Up

Hey, Barb.

Sorry for slipping out of touch the past week or so.  Just a quick note to say good morning and let you know I'm still here :)

We (I) had a horrible run-in with M on Thursday night that had me out of sorts for the whole weekend.  It was ugly enough at the time that I packed up JJ and we went down to Portland to spend the night with J in his hotel. It's just shades of the old M, angry, combative - he punched a hole in Casey's bedroom door and scared the crap out of JJ, so I removed us from the situation.  I hate that I felt like I had to leave my own house, but I wasn't going to stay here with that.

Friday, apart from still being upset and worried about M, the three of us actually had a great day, sightseeing in Vancouver.  We had a fabulous dinner at one of my favorite restaurants on the waterfront there before heading home in the evening.

We didn't see M until after dinner last night (he had disappeared to a friend's I guess).  We tried to have a family meeting then, but he was still so angry and mean that I thought we got nowhere.  J, on the other hand, thought it went well and is optimistic.  I'm the Mom.  It's all going to end badly, in my head.

 We'll see what happens from here.  J seems to think this is a bump in the road, with the anniversary of his dad's death coming up and all.

Despite all of that, the three of us managed to have a pretty good weekend, the best part of which was my field trip for Photography class yesterday when I didn't have to think about M, if only for a couple of hours, or worry about what was going to happen when he came home.  I was just outside, the weather was nice, and I was getting the hang of my camera for the first time.  Wandering around the UW campus was fun, too.  Amazingly, I had never been there. Made me wish I were a college student again....life was easy :)

Anyway, I'm glad it's Monday.  I called in sick Friday, which is a really mean thing to do in my office, so I'll try to make it up to my coworkers today.  It will be nice to not be sitting around here waiting/wondering/worrying.  Tonight I have a girl's night to go to at a friend's house, which I just remembered as I was sitting here writing.  That might make for a good evening.

I hope you had a good weekend (did you go to Boston?) and that your week is starting off well.  Maybe we can catch up on the phone this week?

Love you,
A