Reboot

Let's try this again.

The last reboot started, sadly, just before the Bad Times, which I won't go into now, if ever.  Let's just say there has been enough drama and enough tears for ten lifetimes.

These are better times, although still shaky and stressful.  There's still much that is up in the air and much that depends on external forces, which isn't a condition I gladly tolerate.  There are ups and downs.  But it isn't the nadir of hopelessness it was back in February.  Indeed, when LD and I say that word --- February -- it is shorthand for "the most horrible either of us have ever felt."

So.  Today.

I met LD and her three kids, Cake, Crab, and KJr, at the grocery store, where we shopped individually and together.  I then met them at her place.  Yes, she no longer lives in Europa. She lives here, in Mannontown.  So there's that.

The idea was that I should stay with the kids while she went to the office to catch up on work, but she lacked the energy for that.  So I watched the two biggies for just a bit while she went to go retrieve Cake from a birthday party.  Then we took them to the park and LD and I walked around and talked about us and other, less weighty matters, while the kids played on the equipment. I did a little work on her laptop, and then the five of us had spaghetti with meat sauce that she made.  We watched a bit of "Malcolm In the Middle" --- that show is funny and clever!  I never knew it was a notch above other sitcoms.  Then I helped clean up some of the mess and washed dishes.  It was all very domestic.

After the kids were asleep, LD and I had some much-needed adult time together, which was interrupted by a call and text from Zaftig, whose relationship with LD has been cooled and slightly awkward since LD and I got together.  (And Zaftig and 74's relationship with me?  Well, the first time I spoke to 74, my friend of 27 years, was last month when we met for a drink, and it ended in rather strained though civil argument, and no contact since; and I have literally not spoken to Zaftig since February.  Oh, except for professionally.  You see, I am their daughter Nora's teacher!  Ha ha!  It is awkward!)