Personally:

We'll always have Paris is a line I think about frequently. If you haven't seen the movie I won't spoil it for you however to give it some context it's a man speaking to a woman about a time that he remembers fondly. A couple of weekends ago my mother-in-law invited my immediate family up to Green Bay for the weekend. Driving up my husband and I got into a fight. Like most fights what we were arguing about was a superficial triviality that didn't address the real underlying issues. By the time we got to Green Bay I was emotionally exausted and ill prepared to spend the rest of the weekend at the indoor waterpark my mother-in-law decided my children would like.

My mother-in-law rocks:

Spending the weekend with my mother-in-law went much better than I had anticipated since her goal was to spend time hanging out with her grandchildren. She paid for everything explaining that this was our family Christmas gift. Since technically I am legally separated from her son I thought it would be awkward however she was very gracious the entire time. One of the things I really like about her is that she realizes no one is perfect, not even her only son. She took us out to some great restaurants and the indoor waterpark was a blast. The girls loved it especially when Grandma bought them new swimsuits at the hotel gift shop. Spending time playing in the water with my children was one of the best things we've done as a family in a long time. Hopefully they'll always look back on that weekend as a good one.

D I V O R C E is a seven letter word:

Earlier I spoke with my sister about over making the transition from legally separated to divorced. Some part of me is reluctant to drive to the courthouse by myself. My youngest sister said that she would go with me which I really appreciate. She also found some apartments that she thought might work for me. Moving out is a big step. It's not one I'm sure I'm really prepared for but I think this is kind of like the decision to have children: there's no good way to prepare for the unexpected and regardless of how well prepared you think you are until the baby is actually there all the current parents know more about how to raise a child than you do.

Professionally:

Recently my district manager asked if I would be interested in moving to another store. It's a smaller store in terms of square footage but it's been an established shoe store for twenty years and our sister store sells about ten percent more than the store I work at does. While this move would be nice because it does move me slightly closer to home I am apprehensive about it because I don't know the people who work there well and what I do know of them I'm not sure I like. Recently my boss made one of our part time holiday people a permanent member of our sales team. He's come a long way since he first started as I'm sure I have.

Back to personal goals:

Recently I made a list of things I want out of life. It's been gratifying to cross a couple things off that list. I've made some changes and taken some small steps towards a better, healthier more independent me. Every job has had something to teach me. Working at a shoe store may not have been my ideal job when I took the position but I've learned a lot about myself. The journey towards self fulfillment is a long one. Being a parent is much harder than making sure you pull good numbers down at work. Frustrations build up and I'm left with figuring out mature ways to deal with people and situations that aren't going away.

Reflecting on the past 23 months:

To digress slightly it's been almost two years since I joined this website. During that time I've accumulated over 10,000 XP. I have about that many private messages. Ten percent of them are from a fled noder whose friendship I cherished. Sadly now I know that internet friends come and go. The other day someone asked me to think back on the day I joined E2. This person asked if I would still join knowing what I know now about this website. In all honesty I don't know what I would do. All any of us can do is try to make informed decisions based on the information we have now. Today, tomorrow, yesterday, if you are my friend and we met via this website I'd like to thank you for being you. You are who you do best which is why I still love Everything2.