Chapter 3

On Tuesday evening I again sat on my patio and thought of the next part of reclaiming my life. It consisted of me making amends to those who mean the most to me. Shane, Alice and Kit have had to bear the brunt of my being disgruntled both at home and at work and as usual, they were steadily behind me. I have to thank the differing deities for placing these amazing women in my life and allowing me to continuously take them for granted but always having them there for me. I, because of my self- centered ways, took them for granted and it was time that I made it up to them. They were my rock in times that I felt most overwhelmed and they didn’t even know it. I figured the best way to start was of course to have a bbq so I called and invited them over on Saturday, knowing that I wouldn’t have Angie so there could truly be some serious conversations as well as serious drinking. They all agreed, somewhat surprised since bbq’s were rare with Jodi in the picture. I also asked each of them to not tell Tina. My reasoning to myself was that Tina and I needed to have a conversation in and of itself and although I would love to have her in this bonding experience, my amends to them was separate from what I needed to do with her. I would inform them of Jodi and I breaking up, the reasoning behind it and my plans to try to woo Tina. If they did not shoot me down too much in that idea, I would need their help and there were no other people that I would wan t help from as much as them.

The rest of the week went by fairly smoothly. Tom called for Jodi to make arrangements to pick up her belongings and they took care of that while I was not home. On Wednesday, I went to The Planet to hang out with Kit and briefly saw Tina with Angie as they were picking up take out for dinner. Angie was in the middle of a meltdown because of having to leave the park before she was ready and Tina looked like she was ready to lose her mind. I cuddled with Angie while they waited for their food and Tina was able to take a few minutes to regroup in Kit’s office. When they left, she thanked me and we shared a moment, realizing how hard this parenting thing alone can be. I sat there after they left hoping that the eventuality would be that neither of us had to go alone about it for much longer. I, of course had no idea how serious Tina was with her new girlfriend or even how much she would be willing to give me another chance but here nor there, those were issues that I would tackle in the future.  As I was readying to leave, Alice walked in and I got relaxed again.