How Do You....

I ran into an old neighbour recently, after the greetings and hugs (no kisses), the inevitable question about family surfaced. Hmmm ... what to say?
"We are fine, the girls are doing great! The pistols that they are, hopefully they will use the energy for the armed forces later, the uniform I prefer." I answered.
"And how are you treated by their father?" Shocked and awed, she knew? Apparently she knew all along.
"Well, I think he is doing fine, elsewhere." I replied with a forced smile with slight details of the rift, still in shock with the inquiry.
Next broke my jaw because it hit the ground, as well as the emergence of those used tissues all wrinkled in the pockets. My dear friend (upgraded from neighbour) "I should have done something to help you then, sorry. But I am proud that you stood up by yourself," so out poured her tears (and snort) thus I gave her my tissue. Ewww she used it.

So how do I stay sane? There are some things that are worth fighting for, Liberty and Freedom, regardless if it is fought on a global or a domestic level.

How so I hold my head up? Erh... my neck. (smart ass).

What took me so long? Traffic. (smart ass)


How am I doing now? Well therapy helps, I have not been to a buffet parlour for a while. (The sign says All You can Eat. I ate all I could for 3 hours. The kids were crying or had fallen asleep, else I could have gone for more crab legs.) Yes I still have latent fears. Fear is an emotion you cannot recreate or fabricate. There were episodes of anxiety recently, nervous enough to make me reach for the phone, close to calling the blinking lights to my driveway. For once I will be glad to see those lights maybe because I am not driving. (haha) Restructuring a life is challenging, restructuring a life with 2 dependents means I need a freaking vacation or a good stress release. In my case, physical pain, pushups or situps or scooping dog-poop. Or solving mathematically equations on Yahoo Answers, aka good mental pain.

What am I doing next? I am going to DisneyWorld, if I can afford it. The fight is not over yet. This is the calm before the storm. Saying "NO MORE" is step one in a series of 99,999.02 steps, followed by tests of patience and logic prolonged over months laid out by the judicial system and LAWYERS. Take one step at a time, breathe, finding the right person to talk to and have a phone nearby to call 911.

So ... what did I win? ( yeah yeah... smart ass. Salute! Salut!)