Guy Friends, Part Four

My eyes moved from the box to catch his gaze.  His hair was graying on the sides and he really did look the twelve years older than me that he was.  His eyes were a grayish blue. Very kind-looking.  I felt like I was sitting across from my father.  And I started to cry.  Tears of confusion, tears of appreciation, I’m not sure which.  I had never had anyone other than my father tell me I deserved anything.  God knows I had never heard those words from my ex-husband, or any other boyfriend.  They all seemed to feel that they as men were the ones entitled to things.

Guy Friends, Part Two

It’s like they expect Samantha from Sex in the City but I’m far from it.  If a guy tells me he’s married and just wants to be friends, I believe him.  I don’t look to seduce him and don’t assume he is trying to seduce me.   But tell this to most people and they’ll shake their heads and tell me “tsk, tsk,” as if I am in the wrong for not reading between the lines.

Freedom to Interpret

I finally started to doze off when I heard the owl.  I woke back up not with a startle, but with a happiness for having heard it.  I listened to it for the next ten minutes or so.  Thoughts bounced back and forth- from the owl to what had transpired that day with my bosses.  That symbol of wisdom was right outside my bedroom somewhere, seeing in the dark, looking down on everything around it.  It was confirmation that I was on the right path, even though I have no idea what path that is.

Crying at Movies

My daughters tease me because I cry pretty easily at movies.  I think a lot of times it’s the cueing of the sad music, but sometimes I can’t explain why.  A few years ago, I famously cried at the trailer for the remake of Pete’s Dragon.  That’s just embarrassing. Last night, I took my two […]

Good Girls and Pink Collar Jobs

 If you are from the southwest or San Francisco, you are used to hippy-dippy, new-age spiritualism and will not laugh when I tell you what kinds of referrals I got.  Everyone else, know this:  ask for therapy here, and  you get referrals to:  reflexology, aromatherapy, crystal therapy, hot stone therapy, sweat therapy, neuro-linguistic programming, massage, scare therapy, rebirthing and on and on.  I was really asking for talk therapy, but I figured, what the heck, I should be open to anything that might open my heart again to a man for whom I’d lost all respect.  Marriage was forever, and maybe there was a magic therapy I could sign up for?