Feeling Better

I went to bed at 8:30 last night, and even though I didn't fall asleep right away I did get much more rest than usual, including some complex dreams. I am feeling much better this morning.

queenofhalves's comment from last night also helped. During a time when she was dealing with a difficult person, her husband said to her:

"stop treating her like she's your nemesis. she doesn't have what it takes to be your nemesis."

I laughed when I read that last night and felt much better. I think I'm going to make that my mantra where Miss V is concerned.

Tech Support Question

Would someone please leave a comment and enlighten me as to what the HTML code I use to do strikethroughs in my text?

Thanks!

Update

I arrived at work this morning to find an email from Miss Vicki in which she said that after being reminded that she had indeed asked me to take the lead on the newsletter, and after reviewing all the emails regarding the newsletter which had built up while she was on vacation, and seeing that I "had a good handle" on things, and after reviewing her own work load, she has decided that it is probably best if instead of assuming my role, she assumes her boss's role: "as an extra pair of eyes and ears." (Is she even aware that she was using phrasing from my email to her?)

I still find her attitude annoyingly condescending, but I am not sorry that Jeannie delaying my response to her first email seems to have prevented what might have become an escalating conflict. I'll give Vicki credit for stepping back rather than pushing the issue.

But I still took queenofhalves's quote, copied it in my personal code, and stuck it up on my cube wall. I'm not usually pessimistic, but I have the feeling that I'm going to need the reminder in the future.

Remembering

It's raining again.
Driving home from the gym this evening in the gathering darkness, I was abruptly and poignantly swept back in time. . .

1981 - my sixteenth summer. . . and it's scary to think how long ago it's been. . . My first summer dating. I'm six months older than T, my first boyfriend, so I'm doing the driving. There's not much to do in Longview, so we see a lot of movies that are playing at the two theaters in town. Actually, we see the few movies several times. This is the summer of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which we see at least three times. This is Longview, so we also see Clash of the Titans a couple of times because there's nothing better to do.

But it's not the movies I'm thinking of tonight: it's sitting in my Volkswagen Bug with him and spending an hour or more kissing, and then driving home alone afterward in the dark, almost deserted streets. I don't usually think of rain when I think of that summer -- so it's not so much that summer at all: it's him, and that first discovery of passion, and the exhilerating sense of breaking the rules while doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. Driving alone that late at night was another milestone, one that was almost as important as what we were doing together. Being out late, in the dark, outside of the sheltering walls of my parents' house and the pools of light from the porch and the windows, left on to welcome me home and to keep back the dark. . .

"What I'm doing" was pretty innocent stuff. It took us half the summer to get around to open-mouthed kisses, and we didn't go any further past that point for a very long time. I was, as I have commented here before, a classic Good Christian Girl, and he knew what he was dealing with. Or he did at first. He was part of an initiatory transition, and I was never quite the same after those first few weeks. He was Han Solo to my Princess Leia, and I had been looking for a scoundrel in my life. One with a heart of gold, of course - but a scoundrel. He was it for me.

( Other Memories )