OLD WORLD, NEW WORLD...

Some of you already know that my wife will be away for most of the next three months. After a highly toxic evening or two, she proposed that we spend the two weeks left to us trying to reconnect as people who cared about each other, which we do. This is easier for her, frankly, because she is not the short-tempered lunatic in the family. But, be that as it may: she is free to stop any topic in conversation simply by saying "hush", I've said I'll have no more than one drink a night, which has already made a BIG difference, and I have agreed not to discuss my sexuality or my coming out with ANYONE except my therapist, my confessor, and our pastor until she gets home. Now this may just be the "honeymoon period" that all the wise men say can't last -- well, it only HAS to last two weeks. As I keep saying, I can do ANYTHING for two weeks! It's when it gets to months and years that I begin to lose what little stick-to-it-ive-ness I possess.

But she did the most amazing thing last night: she came out to my workroom and helped me clear up three months' worth of piled paper, unfiled business, and general flotsam. She shrugs off my thanks, but I could never even have gotten STARTED without her -- it had all just gone on too long, and the mess felt too big to start in on. Well, that was a gift I will remember until the end of my days, no matter what happens.

So I'm organized, but so far, nobody has come in to take care of the laziness problem. Wish me luck in the Spelling Bee tonight.