My Life At The Moment

I do have work to do during my retreat ~ serious work, and I'm taking it seriously.  I'm not sure my wife is.

Part of my work is to figure out how to keep my marriage functioning ~ to find a way forward that we will both enjoy, and that will nurture us both.

Another part of my work, however, is to explore how much Meg I need in my life.  To that end, I'm taking advantage and doing Meg things that I can't do at home.  So far, it's been simple things.

Meg's stuff is OUT.  I can leave her clothes and makeup in readily accessible locations.  I can spend time at home doing what I call "playing dress-up" ~ it's more than that, of course.  I've said many times that I have too many items, and I want to get rid of what I will not wear out.  This is harder than expected for a couple of reasons I'll explore in another post.  It was eye-opening.

I need to see which shoes I can or cannot wear.  This means at least a couple of hours on my feet in each pair of shoes, something I can't do back home.  Same with earrings: I have many and some Really Hurt Really Quickly... but I don't remember which.  I'm writing down notes on what works and doesn't and I'll find a new home for those that don't work, or at least try cushions for them to try to make them work.

I'd like to practice makeup a bit.  I'd like to practice my "girl voice."  These are things I cannot do at home.

A lot of these things, such as shoes and earrings and voice I can do while I'm doing other activities, so I consider them "free," as far as taking time from my retreat.

I'm also removing a lot more hair than I ever have.  Right now, I can go out wearing a sundress.  Except I don't own any sundresses because I could never go out wearing one before, so I never bought any.  I could go to TJ Maxx or Burlington or Dress Barn or Marshalls or any of the other off-brand shops within a couple of miles of the house, but I'm trying to reduce, remember?  (Refer back to "harder than expected", above.)

I'm spending a bit of time on these activities, but I'm also rationing my time so I can still do the other things I need to/want to do.

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