Granted

There are certain things we take for granted. Things we learn in our youth, and assume everyone else did too.

How to tie your shoes...

How to brush your teeth...

How to button your shirt...

How to pee in the woods...

Ok, well, I assumed everyone learned that last one. Apparently not.

For my birthday a bunch of my friends and I went backpacking to this really great cabin. As we hit the trail head Teach revealed she had a problem—she had to pee. Her husband and the other three guys with us were no help. It came down to me. The teacher had become the student, and I got to be the one to teach a grown woman how to pee in the woods.

Thankfully, she's a bright woman, because the instruction was entirely verbal. There was no way on this green earth I was going to demonstrate proper peeing in the woods technique. She was worried about the whole thing, but managed to take care of things without requiring a change of attire. I was quite proud.

Also, I shall make sure that my girls learn that early on.

Ditto

What she said...
Some Girls Have All the (Un)luck

Put Your Behind in the Past

Christmas week ExOfNote emailed me.

This was not, you probably won't be surprised to learn, an eventuality I was ever prepared for.

We exchanged a couple of emails via facebook, but then I didn't reply. Why not? Because I didn't know what to say, or how. What was I supposed to tell him? That he ripped me apart? That it took years to get over him, and I'm not sure I'm fully there yet? That I've moved on—that I had to. That since him I've loved and lost, and loved again?

He finally caught up with me on facebook one evening. We im'ed for a bit, I didn't know what to say, so I kept it casual. We talked about what we had each been up to, career-wise, and where we were living. He didn't remember that I moved to Seattle, and what company I work for. He asked if I had been dating anyone, I said yes. Then we talked about my living situation: two roommates, one boy, one girl. I allowed him to come to the conclusion that Bill and I are more than just friends and housemates. I didn't lie to him, but I didn't clear anything up, either. I wanted him to know that I had moved on, and I wanted him to cut off contact, not the other way around. I had no idea what he would do if I told him I wanted nothing to do with him, but thanks anyway.

As we talked and emailed it became amazingly clear how lucky I am that I didn't end up with him after all. In the last four years he's done less than nothing with his life. It's quite sad, actually.

A couple of days after our chat I discovered that he had unfriended me on facebook (he had just friended me over Christmas). I can't say that I was terribly torn up about it—more relieved. That's a part of my life that is best left in the past.

And, finally, I can say but this: thanks for the closure, baby. I loved you when I knew you, but now that I don't know you, I can't possibly love you. Please move on, I have had to, now it's your turn.